CHEERS!

A number of drinking spots in the Bradford district have cause for celebration after being included in CAMRA’s (Campaign for Real Ale) Good Beer Guide 2020.

The guide, dubbed the ‘beer-lovers’ bible’ features pubs across the UK serving the best real ale.

RELATED: All the Bradford drinking spots in CAMRA's 2020 Good Beer Guide

Those included from the Bradford district are: The Corn Dolly; The Fighting Cock; Jacobs Beer House; The Old Bank; The Peacock; The Record Cafe and The Sparrow - all in and around Bradford city centre.

Others which made the list include The Cracker Barrel, Greengates; The Idle Draper, Idle; The Fox, Hullabaloo and The Sir Norman Rae, all in Shipley; The Hooper Micropub in Wibsey, plus The Crescent Inn and the Flying Duck in Ilkley.

Cap and Collar and The Salt Cellar, Saltaire, are also on the list along with Platform 1 3/4, Chip n Ern and Foundry Hill in Bingley.

The Bulls Head and The Junction in Baildon also made the list.

Phyl Drennan, from Bradford CAMRA, said it was great the pubs in the guide were celebrated, but urged people to also visit the pubs not listed.

“We need to ensure that they are available for future generations.

“We will carry on, all year round, to campaign for pubs, clubs and great beers and call for everyone to do what they can to help their local as well as other pubs.”

Jim Emmett, from the Idle Draper, is delighted to have been included in the guide.

He told the Telegraph & Argus: “I’m overwhelmed . All I set out to do was create a bar that I would want to go to.

“When I bought the 200-year-old building that Brigg’s Draper shop had been housed in for all that time, I had never even imagined I would open a pub.

“It was going to be rented out as a florists.”

He added: “Along the way I decided to convert the old stable block in to a brewery and cinema that we use for parties and a man’s club that we have every Wednesday to promote mental health awareness.

“We aren’t counsellors so we don’t have all the answers but we are there for anybody who wants to talk with people who have been or are going through issues.”

On top of that, the Idle Draper also hosts other social events including guitar lessons and Spanish lessons - a prime example of how pubs can play a vital role in local communities.

Figures from the latest guide - now in its 47th year - show pubs have diversified their offering, with 61 per cent offering evening meals and 65 per cent offering lunch food.

Many of the pubs in the guide also offer some kind of community event or activity, including providing a social beer garden (76 per cent), screening live sports (32 per cent) or providing entertainment (43 per cent).

CAMRA said: “This is complemented with a surge in 1,850 real ale breweries, making more flavours and styles available to consumers than ever before.”

Emma Inch, an award-winning beer writer and podcaster, said: “A decade ago, there were just a few hundred breweries in the UK; today there are nearly two thousand.

“This rapid growth has brought with it even more choice than most British beer drinkers have ever known.

“Beer has embraced diversity, and I’m not just talking about the liquid in your glass. Over the past few years the way we discuss beer, the aesthetic surrounding it, the people who brew it, and even the people who drink it have begun to change.”

Visit www.bradfordcamra.org.uk for more information.