E-Malt.com News article: UK: CAMRA announces the winners of Pub Design Awards 2005

CAMRA has communicated on January 16 that the winners are being officially announced on Thursday, January 12, at a ceremony held in Bristol at Zerodegrees – winner of the 2005 New Build award. The winners of the prestigious CAMRA Pub Design Awards 2005 are praised by the judges as one of the strongest crop of entries in more than 20 years.

Pub Design Award judge Steven Parissien - Dean of Arts and Professor of Architectural History at University of Plymouth – said: “This year’s crop of award winners represent one of the strongest and most eclectic set of designs it has been our pleasure to announce in over twenty years. Between them, they prove that investing in good pub design – whether this involves creating a contextually-sensitive new build pub or rescuing a much-loved landmark from dereliction and decay – makes economic as well as social and aesthetic sense.”

New build: Zerodegrees, Colston Street, Bristol.

The judges said: “It is hugely refreshing to be able to announce a NEWBUILD AWARD winner – something the judges have, over the years, been rarely able to do. Zerodegrees in Colston Street, Bristol was designed by local architects Acanthus Ferguson Mann (led by the current President of the RIBA and co-star of TV’s Demolition, George Ferguson) as the second branch of a bold new brewpub-and-restaurant concept. The resulting building is an unashamedly contemporary new architectural statement that nestles snugly into the dense and complicated urban grain of Bristol City Centre, and manages to combine cutting-edge design with a warm architectural welcome.

“Altogether, Zerodegrees represents a beacon of good and successful design, and a wake-up call for more timid pub owners.”

Conversion to Pub Use: The Yorkshire Terrier, Stonegate, York.

The judges said: “The Yorkshire initially presented a tricky problem for its new owners. The York Brewery’s proposal for converting a shop and rear yard in the city’s historic Stonegate originally met with opposition from the City Council, who enforce a strict policy of retail-only on this busy thoroughfare. The brewers therefore ingeniously adapated the scheme to feature a shop selling brewery merchandise and memorabilia on the street front.

“The resulting pub interior, by local architects Waites and Moorey, is admirable. A profusion of mirrors make the rooms both jewel- and tardis-like. There are, thankfully, no gaming machines, pool tables or jukeboxes to distract the interior; instead, it’s a solid, traditional family pub – welcoming, friendly and intimate.”

Highly commended in this category was Arcadia Ale and Wine Bar, Arndale Centre, Headingley, Leeds, of which judges said: “Space is at a premium here, but what there is has been treated with imagination and sensitivity. The treatment of the interior successfully ignores the mediocrity of the pub’s architectural context, creating the atmosphere of a traditionally-inspired refuge rather than just another shopping centre unit.”

Refurbished Pub: The Racecourse, Lower Kersal, Salford

The judges said: “A massive Brewer’s Tudor edifice of 1928, formerly a hotel, its powerful exterior has been nicely restored. Inside is even more impressive. The central bar has wisely been ‘demodernised’ – shaved of its more recent, unsympathetic additions, restored to its original island site, and returned to its 1928 form.

“Three cheers for Oakwell Brewery and their architects, the Maddocks Shelley Partnership, for rescuing and revitalising a semi-derelict landmark. This is the sort of brave project that can light the fuse of urban regeneration.”

CAMRA/English Heritage Conservation Award: The Prestoungrange Gothenberg, Prestonpans, Scotland.

The judges said: “The ‘Goth’ dates from 1908 and is one of only three surviving ‘Gothenburg’ pubs – semi-temperance outlets created to limit alcohol abuse, in which staff originally received bonuses for selling soft drinks and food rather than beer and spirits.

“By 1960 all of the Scottish Gothenburgs - a concept imported from Sweden to Edwardian Scotland by Thomas Nelson - had succumbed to commercial pressures and had abandoned their original moral stance. Cleverly though, the phoenix-like rebirth of the Prestoungrange Goth has reinterpreted Nelson’s original charitable enterprise for the 21st century, with surplus profits being channelled into the local Arts Festival and related arts initiatives. In addition, while the first Goth sold beers from the now-defunct Prestonpans brewery, Fowler’s, its worthy successor brews its own beer on-site.

“Here is a pub which celebrates, not hides, its colourful history, and which makes excellent use of its unusual floor plan. The differing bars, each with their own sense of tradition and atmosphere, have been admirably restored. Congratulations to Steve Larcombe of Purple Design and their client, East of Scotland Public House Ltd, for a gutsy and full-blooded conservation success.”

The Joe Goodwin Award: The Yarborough Hunt, Brigg, Lincolnshire:

The judges said: “The old pub was closed over thirty years ago, robbing the community of a much-loved local and social focus. It has now been reopened, with cream-painted walls, appropriate local pictures and simple furniture. The judges commended the result as distinctly worthy of Joe Goodwin’s memory.”

Professor Parissien concluded: “All in all we have a highly impressive stable of award winners. At a time when new design, ethical conservation and sustainable construction are the fodder of weekly TV, these should provide models of good practice for pub owners and pub architects alike. We urge them all to seize the day, get back to the drawing board, and provide us with pubs that are appropriate for the 21st century.”

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18 January, 2006