Every year (well usually) the branch chooses its 2 pubs of the year, one in the city (basically inside the ring road) and one covering the towns and villages. In the past we drew up a short list of eligible pubs at a branch meeting, using CAMRA’s beer scoring system, and then branch members visit the pubs and score them according to complex criteria. Completed voting forms are tallied at the January branch meeting and the award is be made at our awards evening in February. As you might expect there are not many people who want to go to all this trouble, specially in the colder months and having to visit some hard-to-reach pubs in the villages. We end up with very few votes and the same pubs win every year. So …
Oxford Branch Pub of the Year 2025 was different.
This time the branch decided to revert to a simpler ballot process of members, which ran through October-December. Selection was, as always, difficult – there are so many great pubs in our area. The shortlist was determined from the beer scores that had been entered in the past year. It’s easy to do at CAMRA Pubs, and more than 200 people did for this selection.
CAMRA members just had to vote for one pub in each category. The single candidate to go forward to the County, and hopefully Regional, round to be chosen at the Oxford CAMRA Christmas social.
The City Pub of the Year 2025 is The Grapes, from the Royal Blenheim and then The Mason’s Arms, Headington.
The Town and Country Pub of the Year 2025 is The Craft Pint, Witney from The Brewery Tap, Abingdon and then The King’s Arms, Kidlington.
If you want to help us find the best pubs in the branch you can do it by……
BEER SCORING – When you go to the pub (any pub) find the pub on CAMRA Pubs, login with you membership number, and give your beer a score for the condition it is in (not how much you like it or whether it’s served with a smile) – from 0.5, undrinkable (although in that case there is probably something wrong with it so why not see if you can get a replacement) through average, good, to 5, perfect. A score you might give a handful of times in your lifetime. These score summaries are considered at branch meetings and used to help choose our selections for PotY and the Good Beer Guide. Get scoring, it really helps.
The “City” area is defined by the branch as pubs inside the Oxford ring road. Outside the ring road are our “Town and Country” pubs.
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