In this issue: (click on a title to jump straight to the article)

• In the Spotlight ... Win a New Forest pub for £10, National Park entry charges and the long-awaited Community Pubs Report
• More award-winning pubs
• New pub walks in your area - and some updates
• Christmas gift ideas for pub walkers - plus money off pub meals
• Dates for your Diary - special events, festivals and deadlines

The Pub Walker
The official newsletter of MyFavouritePubWalks.com

In the Spotlight ...


Win A New Forest Pub for £10?

In the latest case of a property being offered as a raffle prize, the Filly Inn can be won by a would-be publican for the price of a £10 raffle ticket! Set in the beautiful New Forest near Brockenhurst and valued at almost £400,000, the winner will get the remaining 20 years of the lease. This is a character pub which comes complete with B&B accommodation, large restaurant and bike hire, not to mention all the furniture, fixtures, fittings and any remaining stock.

If you have always dreamed of running your own pub, have passion and heaps of energy, plus access to working capital needed to keep the business rolling, then it has to be worth a closer look at the terms and conditions. You can find out more by clicking on win a New Forest Pub for £10 and obviously you should seek legal and accountancy advice on the small print to ensure you know what you could be taking on before entering into any contract.


New Forest National Park - Road charging, dog-free zones and planning permission for horses ...

The New Forest is hitting the news as controversial plans could make it the first national park to levy an entry charge on tourists. The proposals by The National Parks Authority also include the introduction of new restrictions on the use of the forest by dogs and horses and periodic closure of sensitive areas and routes. The measures for the conservation of forest land are well-intentioned but extreme and many feel they are not properly thought through.

A new pressure group, Forest Uprising, has been formed to fight the proposals. As the most popular UK holiday destination, the major concern has to be the potential impact on the New Forest's tourist industry which pumps huge amounts of money into the area. However Forest Uprising is also focused on the local issues for not just dog walkers who could be excluded from some car parks but also for those who keep horses for personal recreational use who would in future need to apply for planning permission to keep their animals.

If these proposals are successfully implemented for the New Forest, we have to expect that someone will suggest that maybe they could be applied to our other National Parks too. If you feel (like we do) that our remaining wild areas need to remain free for all to enjoy, then you can find out more about the proposals, join the debate or simply take a walk in the area to see what all the fuss is about by visiting our New Forest Pub Walks page.


Community Pus Report - Hailed "a big step forward" by CAMRA

With so much of the news dominated by the "credit crunch" and talk of a recession, I'm not going to dwell on it here. We all know that publicans have been facing severe challenges over recent years anyway so I'm going to focus on some good news.

A long-awaited Community Pubs Inquiry Report has been published which is being heralded as a "big step forward" by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) who constantly fight for fairness for publicans. The report focuses on the many positive things that could be done to help stem the tide of pub closures which currently runs at 36 per week.

The report calls upon the Government to take immediate action to support our locals, ranging from reducing the tax on draught beer and simplifying licensing to recognising the wider community roles of pubs and making diversification easier. You can read more about the proposals at Community Pubs Report.

Award-Winning Pubs - and where to find them

We continue our regular feature highlighting pubs who have been recently recognised for excellence in an area that is of interest to pub walkers. This may range from how they cater for families, the quality of their food or real ale, or simply their good old customer service. Where the list is long, we have just included a selection with a link to the full list.

So if you fancy creating a pub walk of your own, why not start with an award-winning pub near you, grab an OS map and compass and start exploring! Then send us the pub walk and between us we can all support the best of our pub tradition and help them to thrive!

Creating a pub walk is easy. Just follow the simple steps at MyFavouritePubWalks.com/Contributors.

Campaign for Real Ale - Regional Pubs of the Year 2008

PUB NAME	LOCATION	REGIONAL PUBS OF THE YEAR
Blue Bell Inn	Halkyn Mountain, Flintshire, Wales	Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales (click for one of our Blue Bell Pub Walks)
Royal Oak Inn	Wantage, Oxfordshire	Central Southern
Trafalgar	High Path, London	Greater London
King's Arms	Sunderland, Tyne and Wear	North East
Tom Cobley Tavern	Spreyton, Devon	South West
Arkwright Arms	Sutton Cum Duckmanton, Derbyshire	East Midlands
As CAMRA announce publication of the Good Beer Guide 2009, they award the Regional Pub of the Year titles in the final round of the National Pub of the Year accolade to be presented in February 2009. The above is just a sample but for a full list of the winners, click on CAMRA Regional Pubs of the Year.

BPEX Foodservice Sausage Awards 2008

PUB NAME	LOCATION	CATEGORY
Fence Gate Inn	Fence, Burnley, Lancashire	1. Best Pub Sausage 2. Overall Best Sausagae
If it was ever needed, here is the proof that our own locals are the true home of the British Sausage. At the recent BPEX Foodservice Awards, the pub which won the Best Pub Sausage also then won the Overall Best Sausage category too. For more details click on Britain's Best Banger!

The Publican Pub Food and Drink Awards - Winners 2008

PUB NAME	LOCATION	CATEGORY
Royal Standard of England	Forty Green, Buckinghamshire	Winner - Speciality Beer Pub of the Year (click for one of our Royal Standard of England Pub Walks)
Whitmore Arms	Orsett, Essex	Food Pub of the Year
Feathers Inn	Stocksfield, Northumberland	Local Food Pub of the Year
Hare & Hounds	Bury, Greater Manchester	Cask Ale Pub of the Year
The Publican Pub Food and Drink Awards were launched this year to recognise a wider range of pubs than its forerunner, The Pub Food Awards. A full list of the 20 winners can be found by clicking on Publican Pub Food and Drink Awards.

If you try any of these award-winning pubs and would like to give feedback, please send your comments to Leigh@myfavouritepubwalks.com.

Pub Walks in Your Area - and Some Updates

Recent Additions

We are constantly finding more pub walks and are working hard to get these published as fast as we can. Since our last newsletter we have added more pub walks in the following areas:

• Kent
• Suffolk
• Flintshire

In the coming weeks there will be plenty more pub walks added, including some in Hampshire, South Glamorgan, and Cornwall to name but a few. It's easy to add a pub walk to the database so do please keep them coming. We really appreciate your help as we strive to create a truly national database of pub walks that can be downloaded and enjoyed at a moments notice.

QuickSearch for a Pub Walk

You can do an instant search for a pub walk near you simply by entering your search term into the box below. If you cannot find one in your area, you can now get some help by posting a comment on The Pub Walker blog - if we have some nearly ready for publishing then we'll see if we can bring them forward in the queue; and if we don't have any yet then we'll do our best to track some down for you!

Enter a County, Area, Town or Pub Name

Some More Quick Updates

One of the advantages of an on-line database is the ability to keep information updated whereas a book can quickly become out of date. Check this section for details of when the pubs change hands or close down, when footpaths become blocked or any other information we hear relating to the pubs and walks on our site.

• Filly Inn, Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire - as highlighted in our In the Spotlight section above, there is a competition to win the Filly Inn for just £10. In the meantime, you can still download their pub walks at Filly Inn Pub Walk 1 and Filly Inn Pub Walk 2.

• Blue Bell Inn, Halkyn Mountain, Flintshire, Wales - we've marked its new CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year status with 2 more pub walks which you can download at Blue Bell Pub Walk 2 and Blue Bell Pub Walk 3.

• Royal Standard of England, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire - as well as being awarded Speciality Beer Pub of the Year in The Publican Awards, this pub was also finalist in the Food Pub of the Year, Chef of the Year and Classic Food Pub of the Year categories. Download Royal Standard Pub Walk 1 or Royal Standard Pub Walk 2 and judge their food for yourself.