Locals in Basingstoke and Merseyside have been named joint winners of this year's Pub Aid community awards. 

The winning pubs are the Horse & Jockey in Melling, Merseyside and the Portsmouth Arms in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

The Portsmouth Arms started a record-beating pub quiz that has raised more than £66,000 for charities, while the Horse & Jockey cooked and delivered 15,000 free hot meals and sent out 1,000 care packages. Judges decided to make two top awards this year in recognition of the very different community support offered by the two pubs.

Both pubs received a £500 donation from Matthew Clark to the charity of their choice, as well as a trophy, while winners and finalists received a certificate, to be presented by their MP.

All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group chairman Mike Wood said: "These awards have been a great opportunity for MPs to celebrate how landladies and landlords in their constituencies have stepped up to the mark to support their community during the pandemic. Yet again we have seen that pubs are the antidote to isolation."

PubAid co-founder Des O'Flanagan said: "Judging this year's awards has been a real challenge. We struggled to choose our 10 finalists from an incredibly strong field and selecting a winner from that shortlist proved impossible. We decided to give the top award to two pubs who took very different approaches to supporting their communities in lockdown.”

Pictured: Portsmouth Arms pub quiz master Richard Curtis

Article by Tim Hampson Editor What's Brewing https://wb.camra.org.uk/2021/05/21/lockdown-hero-pubs-take-top-awards