The 2024 edition of the Good Beer Guide published by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) on Thursday, September 28, has 20 pubs in Salisbury and South Wiltshire.
They were selected for the Good Beer Guide by local CAMRA members with personal experience of pubs in the South Wiltshire area. They include The Bridge Inn in Upper Woodford, and landlady Lorna Janse van Vuuren was presented with the Good Beer Guide certificate by Chris White, chairman of the Salisbury & South Wilts branch of CAMRA.
“We are delighted to be voted into the Good Beer Guide for the first time since we took the pub over,” said Lorna.
“We work hard at keeping our beers well, and people come in here and say they can taste the difference.”
Lorna and her husband Tom went to the Woodford Valley for a New Year’s Eve party in 1992. They made friends there and continued to return from South Africa for holidays until they eventually made the valley their permanent home.
Daughter Emma was instrumental in the decision to take on The Bridge Inn as she had worked there in her gap year, and they took over in November 2019.
Chris White, chairman of the Salisbury & South Wilts branch of CAMRA, said: “We are lucky to have so many good pubs in this area, and inclusion in the Good Beer Guide is high praise for the very best of them. The Bridge Inn is a wonderful local with well-kept real ales and excellent food.”
The 2024 edition of the Good Beer Guide includes the full list of South Wiltshire pubs. The front cover depicts Eddie, the mascot of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, pulling a pint of real ale.
The cover design and a foreword are by Bruce Dickinson, the band’s lead singer, an avid real ale drinker. For those of a nervous disposition worried by the sight of Eddie bursting through the front cover, an alternative version without him features the recognisable lettering and imagery of previous editions.
Both cost £16.99 (£14.99 for CAMRA members).
All versions can be ordered online from CAMRA at https://camra.org.uk/the-good-beer-guide-2024/
Photograph of the landlady of the Bridge Inn in the Woodford Valley being presented with her certificate by CAMRA branch chairman Chris White.
Image of the front cover of the Good Beer Guide, which features Eddie, the mascot of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The reasons for Eddie bursting through the Guide’s front cover are explained in the press release.