A Hucknall micropub has finished second in Nottingham Campaign For Real Ale 's (CAMRA) annual pub awards.

Byron's Rest, on Baker Street, was awarded the runner-up spot for the second consecutive year in Nottingham CAMRA's "Pub of the Year 2023" competition. This latest accolade comes just a month after the venue won 'Cider Pub of the Year'.

Nominated pubs in the Nottingham area are judged on a number of criteria, which include beer quality, warmth of welcome and general mix of clientele amongst other considerations. The Nottingham finalist now goes forward to be judged in the Nottinghamshire round of the Competition.

This year the decision was again made to select two winners to reflect the mix between the Urban area, including the city centre, and Village pubs, to give a fairer spread and ensure that the village pubs are not forgotten.

The Horse & Jockey, in Stapleford claimed the top award for the second year running. The owners will be undoubtedly hoping for a similar outcome to last year when it got all the way to the national final and was one of three runners-up behind the eventual overall winner The Tamworth Tap.

Paul Guilford, Manager of the Horse & Jockey said "We are very proud to receive this award for the third year running. All of us concerned with the Jockey work tirelessly to provide a great selection of ales and ciders, a welcoming atmosphere and a keenness to provide a service people will enjoy and wish to visit us again"

Behind the top two, The Crown in Beeston came third.

Winner in the Village category and overall runner up behind The Horse & Jockey was The Round RobINN in East Leake. Second place in the Village category was the Old Green Dragon in Oxton, with the Air Hostess at Tollerton third.

Of Byron's Rest's achievement, Andrew Ludlow, Branch Secretary of Nottingham CAMRA, said: "From the CAMRA perspective we're looking at the quality of the beer and cider and Byron's Rest certainly gets good marks on both those counts but then it's the other parts of the process that come into play. You're looking at how the pub and its locals interact with newcomers, the conditioning of the building, the general vibe that you get from being in the pub.

"And you can take into account the social sort of side, does it offer anything to people who come into the pub? And you look at what Richard is doing, every month he has a coffee morning on a Friday to encourage people to come in, raising money for charity, he's just started his enterprise with the Sunday lunches. And you see from the whole process, it's engrained in him to be part of the Hucknall community and to give something back to those that go in and pay for their beers and ciders.

"I think that most people who go through the doors realise very early on that they're coming into a very pleasant experience. A lot of pubs are very friendly, a lot of pubs are very welcoming but Byron's Rest seems to have that something extra that when you go in you sort of feel as if you've come home."

When asked what the pub needs to do to win, Mr Ludlow added: "I think Byron's Rest has proved by its constant high scoring in these contests that it's doing everything right. I think for a micropub to get the acclaim of runner-up and to receive the cider award shows it's doing an awful lot extremely well."