March 7, 2018 8.05 pm This story is over 77 months old

It’s a hat-trick! Dambusters Inn is the 2018 Lincoln pub of the year

We’ll drink to that!
The Dambusters Inn in Scampton.

The Dambusters Inn in Scampton has been named Lincoln pub of the year for the third time in a row by the local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

It’s the only pub in the city to score the accolade for three consecutive years, based on the quality of beer, atmosphere, service and community focus.

The building housing Dambusters Inn is over 200 years old, but the pub was started only in 1999.

The most striking feature of the pub is the unique collection of memorabilia and information about 617 Squadron and the famous bombing raid.

Landlord Greg Algar has been in charge of the Dambusters Inn since 2009.

He installed a microbrewery behind the pub to produce house beers and increased the number of handpumps from two to seven.

Greg said: “Two of the greatest bastions of our country are pubs and the beer they sell. We are humbled and honoured to be recognised in this way”

Dambusters’ Greg Algar and Steve Plews with the last surviving Dambuster George ‘Johnny’ Johnson.

The runner-up and Lincoln CAMRA City Pub of the Year is the Strugglers Inn on Westgate.

The other city pubs in the final were the Cardinal’s Hat and the Hop and Barley. The Butcher and Beast in Heighington and the Three Horseshoes in Waddington were the other county finalists.

The Dambusters now goes forward to the Lincolnshire round of the competition, where it will be up against the winners from the Gainsborough, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Louth, Grantham and Fenland CAMRA Branches.