The 33 East Lancashire pubs featured in 2022's The Good Beer Guide

The 49th edition of the best-selling guide to ale highlights the resilience shown by West Pennine breweries in the face of the Covid pandemic.

And out of the 237 pubs featured from across Cumbria, Lancashire and Isle of Man, 120 are in Lancashire and 33 in East Lancashire, with 20 of the 99 breweries also based in this area of the county.

The Good Beer Guide 2022 details how ten new breweries have opened in 2021, five of them in East Lancashire, while sadly, four breweries across the West Pennines have closed.

CAMRA National Chairman Nik Antona said: “After the struggles of the past 18 months for the industry, it is great that The Good Beer Guide figures are showing the resilience of pubs and brewers in the face of strife – a national increase in brewery numbers after they dipped last year for the first time, as well as over 500 new pub entries.

"This is great to see, especially coupled with the news from the Government’s latest budget, including the announcement of a new, lower rate of duty for draught beer and cider.

“However, the industry is still vulnerable in the aftermath of Covid-19 lockdowns.

"Breweries still face issues around costs of goods, lack of business rate relief and silence from the Government on Small Brewers’ Relief reform.

"We are calling on the Government to make sure the new draught duty rate applies to containers 20L and up so that all our small and independent brewers can benefit.”

The foreword for this year’s edition of The Good Beer Guide was written by best-selling singer and owner of the Fox and Pheasant pub in Chelsea, James Blunt, who has thrown his support behind the Great British pub and reflected on the industry’s struggles during the coronavirus pandemic.

He highlights the importance of pubs to communities and encourages Brits to get back to the pub to support their locals, writing: “Whilst in recent years, there might have been a trend for people to drink cheap supermarket beer at home, those people have been locked away for the best part of a year, and now those people want out.

"They can taste real beer from the tap, and food cooked by a pro, and they can meet legally and joyfully.”

The West Pennines region contains 237 pub listings this year, with 34 newly listed.

While last year’s edition of the Guide captured data pre-Covid, the 2022 edition shows the ramifications of 18 months of lockdown had on the industry.

CAMRA has been calling on the Government to go further with its support package for pubs and breweries, to help mitigate the damage done to a sector in recovery, and still scarred by extended closures.

Nationally, the 2022 Guide has found the total number of independent UK breweries has risen to 1,902 in 2021 from 1,816 in 2020 - showing the highest number of breweries recorded in the Guide since publication began in 1974, and a national increase after recording the first decline in brewery numbers since 2008 in the previous edition.

However, while 138 breweries have opened this year and are newly listed in the Guide, 75 have closed.

The Guide, which surveys 4,500 pubs across the UK, is considered the definitive beer drinker’s guide to the very best pints in the most picturesque and friendly pubs.

Despite being hampered by lockdowns and restrictions in the early part of this year, thousands of independent volunteers have worked together to compile this year’s entries, helping to identify significant trends and themes locally and nationally.

The Good Beer Guide 2022 is now available from the CAMRA shop at  shop1.camra.org.uk/product/the-good-beer-guide-2022 and there is an updated app version available for download on both iOS and Android device.

CAMRA members can order the guide at a reduced rate of £12.00 plus postage and packing.

You can become a member and help save pubs for just £28.50 a year by visiting join.camra.org.uk/

The following East Lancashire pubs all feature in the Good Beer Guide 2022:

Accrington

• Canine Club, Abbey Street
• Grants, Manchester Road

Bacup

• Crown Inn, Greave Road

Barnoldswick

• Barlick Ale Tap House, Newton
• Rolls Royce Leisure Club, Skipton Road

Barrowford

• Bankers Draft, Gisburn Road

Blackburn

• Black Bull, Brokenstone Road
• Drummers Arms, King William Street

Baxenden

• Dog and Partridge, Back Lane

Burnley

• Bridge-Bier Huis, Back Parade
• New Brew-M, St James Row

Clayton-le-Moors

• Old England Forever, Church Street

Clitheroe

• Bowland Beer Hall, Greenacre Street
• New Inn, Parson Lane

Colne

• Admiral Lord Rodney, Mill Green
• Boyce's Barrel, New Market Street

Darwen

• Bird in Th'and, Duckworth Street
• Number 39 Hopstar Brewery Tap, Bridge Street

Earby

• Red Lion, Red Lion Street

Great Harwood

• 1B Tap, Glebe Street

Haggate

• Hare and Hounds, Halifax Road

Helmshore

• Robin Hood Inn, Holcombe Road

Newchurch

• Bear's Head, Church Street

Oswaldtwistle

• Vault, Union Road

Padiham

• Hare and Hounds, West Street
• Molly Rigby's, Mill Street

Pendleton

• Swan With Two Necks, Main Street

Rawtenstall

• Casked Ale House and Ginporium, Bury Road
• Hop Micro Pub, Bank Street

Tockholes

• Royal Arms, Tockholes Road

Slaidburn

• Hark to Bounty, Townend

Whalley

• Dog Inn, King Street

Whitworth

• Whitworth Vale and Healey Band Club, Market Street

The East Lancashire breweries featured in the 2022 Good Beer Guide are:

• 4 Mice - Bolton-by-Bowland
• BB18 - Earby (New)
• Big Clock - Accrington
• Bowland - Clitheroe
• Folly - Clayton-le-Dale (New)
• Hopstar - Darwen
• Mighty Medicine - Whitworth
• Moorhouses - Burnley
• Northern Whisper - Cloughfold
• Old Boot - Bacup (New)
• Oscars - Nelson
• Peregrine - Rishton (New)
• Reedley Hallows - Burnley
• Rossendale - Haslingden
• Snaggletooth - Darwen
• Three B's - Blackburn
• Three Peaks - Nelson
• Thwaites - Mellor Brook
• Unbound - Colne (New)
• Worsthorne - Briercliffe