St Albans pub The Robin Hood has been adjudged the best pub in the CAMRA South Herts branch area and been awarded their Gold Pub of the Year 2021.
Over the last few years The Robin Hood has developed a reputation for the high quality of their real ale as well as a good selection of real ciders. Formerly a Whitbread pub, The Robin Hood is now owned by pub group Stonegate, and although Jim sometimes struggles to get the exact real ales he would like via their designated distributors he still manages to have interesting and tasty offerings on all three handpumps.
Harveys Sussex Best is a permanent fixture on one of the pumps, with a range of guest beers, often from local breweries occupying the other two.
The South Herts Pub of the Year award was presented to Jim, Liz and his team during the very successful St Albans Beer and Pubs Festival at the end of September and attracted a large crowd of regulars including local MP and local resident Daisy Cooper.
The award was a well-deserved reward for the pub which, during the difficult period of Covid lockdowns, had continued to supply customers with take-away and deliveries of real ales and ciders.
Pub of the Year (POTY) surveying in the South Herts branch was delayed because of lockdown restrictions which meant a later than usual announcement of the branch’s Pub of the Year award. However despite these restrictions POTY judges were able to visit the pubs in contention for the award and found the real ale at the Robin Hood outstanding.
The South Herts branch covers almost 280 pubs and this is the first time that the Robin Hood has won the top award.
Completing the POTY 2021 podium winners, The Crooked Billet in Ware won the silver award and the Woodman in Wildhill the bronze.
Life has been tough for all the pubs in our Branch area but they have battled through and nearly all are back trading as normal, although some may still close a little earlier in the evening if there are no customers. So please continue to support our local pubs, in their own way they are all winners.
