York CAMRA Branch

York CAMRA is a branch of the national Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). CAMRA is a well-established national organisation with more than 160,000 members which aims to promote traditional real ale and pubs.


Upcoming Events

Our next events are:

Nov 8 – Friday 5 Route starting at The York Tap
Nov 15 – Cycle Social starting at The Victoria Hotel
Nov 16 – Ripon and Boroughbridge trip with Pub of the Season presentation at The Dawnay Arms.
Nov 26 – Branch Meeting
Dec 7 – Beverley Trip

Further details of events can be found on our diary page.


Pub of the Year – Not a Swan Song

Saturday 20th July was presentation night at the Swan. But not for the first time.

Branch Chairman, Chris Tregellis recalled the night way back in 2009 when as a junior member of the branch committee he was deputised to do the honours. Drinks were drunk and anticipation built back 15 years ago but having been instructed to wait for the York Press cameraman ( yes this was before camera phones) everything was put off as we waited, and waited. By the time he arrived everyone was fully refreshed and speeches and anecdotes were perhaps not as tightly scripted as planned!

Paul Crossman was there in 2009 and the 2024 version seems not to have aged at all, whatever he’s been drinking seems to work. Chris brandished the 2009 copy of the Ouse Boozer by way of evidence. It shows that you should not throw your personal copies away!

The house beer, now brewed by Half Moon, went down very easily on what was a warm night and there was the usual comprehensive array of beers of various styles to choose from. A good showing of members was evident with some even coming from as far afield as Scotland.   

Paul was delighted to receive the award and as Chairman of the Campaign for Pubs he appreciated the complementary nature of CAMRA’s consumer-orientated  endorsement. The two organisations dovetail nicely. He has had to be a fighter and has had to press for freedom in the Swan. And he has another lease renewal event coming up in a couple of years. CAMRA and the local community will be there to support him and hope one day to return for another well-deserved award, just let’s not wait 15 years this time.


Ouse Boozer – our quarterly magazine

Our magazine, Ouse Boozer, is distributed free to real ale pubs in the branch area and available to download from the branch website.

Advertising is available at competitive rates for pubs and breweries. If you would like to enquire about quarter page, half page or full page adverts, please email Jordan Hennessy via comms@york.camra.org.uk

Our latest issue is Summer 2024.

Check out the archive for issues going back to 2012.

York Branch Area

The York branch covers an extensive geographical area, which includes Selby, Tadcaster and rural parts of North and East Yorkshire, as well as the city of York itself.

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