Hucknall micropub claims second position in CAMRA's prestigious Nottingham Cider Pub of the Year competition

A Hucknall micropub has claimed the runner-up position in the 2022 Nottingham Cider Pub of the Year competition.

The Beer Shack, on Derbyshire Lane, which serves a range of locally sourced ciders, including Hucknall based Torkard Cider, was confirmed as having claimed the accolade yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 2 March).

The contest, run by Nottingham CAMRA (Campaign for real ale), sees members of the public nominate pubs for the award, before a team of judges visit each pub to score them against a range of criteria.

Nine pubs were shortlisted for the award, with The Beer Shack being Hucknall's only representative. In what was apparently a very close three horse race, The Beer Shack was pipped to victory by Partizan Tavern in Sneinton, whilst The Vat & Fiddle in Nottingham was highly commended.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, Heather Stretton, Nottingham CAMRA's Cider & Perry Officer, said: "Although CAMRA's predominantly obviously the campaign for real ale, for many years they've also had a cider section promoting real cider and perry.

"The cider pub of the year, it's a national competition but it's broken down into each branch area. Hucknall comes into the Nottingham branch. Each branch holds its own competition, the winners of each branch go through to the regional ones, the winners of each regional one go through to the super regional and eventually It trickles through and you get a national winner.

"The standard of the competition was very high, we're lucky in this branch area to have such good cider and perry pubs so I think runner up is a very good achievement."

Mark Francis-Parry, landlord of The Beer Shack, which previously won the award in 2014, described the feat as "a pleasant surprise."

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, he said: "We're proud of the cider range we have, and we do try and go traditional wherever we can, and we also try and stay with our local cider makers as well.

"We're the tap for Torkard Cider in Hucknall. Ray (Blockley, founder of Torkard Cider) is a font of knowledge for cider, so we do get a lot of direction from him."

This local partnership was one of the key reasons that The Beer Shack performed so well.

Ms Stretton added: "Although it's about the quality of the cider, not the number of ciders stocked, obviously, they do have a very good selection of cider in there.

"They also have a good selection of local Nottinghamshire ciders which is something that Nottingham CAMRA branch particularly feel strongly about. They're very keen on encouraging local pubs to support local breweries and cider makers, cut down on transport mileage and they encourage local businesses, so that always features highly round here.

"The cider they served, obviously we couldn't sample all of it but what we were able to sample we enjoyed very much. The bar staff were friendly; the whole experience was very enjoyable."

When asked what he would say to Hucknall residents who haven't been to the pub before or recently but are considering making a visit on the back of this success, Mr Francis-Parry was unequivocal in his response.

"They're more than welcome, we will do our best to put them in the right direction, if they've never had it (cider) before or they don't know what they're doing, if they don't know whether they like dry, medium or sweet, things like that with the ciders. Ray educates myself and Michelle (Mark's daughter and business partner) so we've got a little bit more knowledge than what we had when we first started.

"We pride ourselves on having a friendly pub, a community pub more than anything else. It's nice to be (recognised as) a friendly place."

For further information about Beer Shack visit their website here.