CAMRA announces Lincoln Pub of the Year

The Dambusters Inn at Scampton has been named Lincoln CAMRA Pub of the Year for 2016, knocking The Dog and Bone into second place for the first time in three years.

Split into two categories, CAMRA members voted for their favourite city pub and favourite country pub.

Four judges then visited the top three pubs, as voted for by CAMRA members to assess the quality of the beer, the atmosphere, service and community focus.

The Dambusters landlord, Greg Algar has made the pub a piece of history with good real ale and RAF memorabilia, with an entire wall dedicated to the men of 617 “Dambusters” Squadron.

Greg has also installed a microbrewery in an outbuilding, and his beers are served alongside ales from small breweries across the UK.

The pub will now go forward in the running Lincolnshire Pub of the Year with competition from the winners in Gainsborough, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Louth, Grantham and Fenland branches.

The runner-up and Lincoln CAMRA City Pub of the Year was the Dog and Bone on John Street.

The other city pubs in the final were the Strugglers Inn and the Golden Eagle.

The Butcher and Beast in Heighington and the Three Horseshoes in Waddington were the other finalists.

Greg Algar, owner of Dambusters Inn, said: “I was thrilled for all the staff and for the customers and especially Nicky Bate, the manager that runs the pub.

“With a pub you need to put in 365 performances a year and we accept that and we don’t sit on our laurels. What I would say is a lot that makes the pub are our customers. I’m a Londoner and I’m not used to such a tight community but all of our customers are brilliant.

“Dambusters Inn bucks a trend because it’s one of a few pubs that has been opened recently, in 1999, everybody likes its newness despite it being a 200-year-old building and we are here to remember the boys of the bomber command in the second world war, like the 617 squadron.”

Lincoln CAMRA chairman, Aaron Joyce, said: “Since taking over, Greg has worked tirelessly to develop the pub.

“And that hard work is really paying off. Last year, the Dambusters was our Country Pub of the Year and, now, it’s taken our top award.”