Emberton's The Bell and Bear in National Pub Awards final

The Bell and Bear was nominated by Helen Billingham in the Community Support Hero Category and has seen competition from almost 1000 other pubs nationwide.

This Community Support Hero Award recognises licensees who help their communities. It looks for pubs which are a ‘good neighbour’ to their local community.

Three other pubs, The Clifton Arms, The Admiral Rodney Inn and The Rose and Crown, in Blackburn, Harshorne and Ashbury have also been shortlisted in this category.

The pub was shortlisted because when the pub was put up for sale in 2019, the village rallied together, raising enough funds to purchase it. Now, with 89 investors from diverse backgrounds, The Bell & Bear stands as a testament to community resilience and commitment. It is a community-driven pub that embodies the spirit of collective ownership. In addition it supports local artists, hosts a book club and non-profit pop up coffee shop, along with many community events.

Richard Logsdail, one of the pub’s Directors, said "We are delighted and proud that our much-loved community Pub has been shortlisted for this award. The Pub closed in the Summer of 2019 and it took 18 months of hard work for 89 villagers to come together to buy it; but we were determined it should remain at the centre of our village”

Andy Atherton, the pub’s Bar Manager said: "This is a wonderful Pub and leading the team that run it on a day to day basis is an amazing experience. We make a real difference to the young and old of our village and have become somewhere people from elsewhere want to visit. It is a Pub we can all be proud of”

The winners will be announced at an award ceremony, sponsored by Matthew Clark, at the Houses of Parliament on 5 March and all shortlisted pubs are invited to attend along with industry leaders and MPs.

Des O’Flanagan, co-founder of PubAid, added: “We launched these awards to celebrate the great work that pubs do for their community. The Bell and Bear is a perfect example of how pubs support and are a hub for many people in their community. The awards are in their fifth year and the volume of entries this year was staggering. What clearly came across from reading all the entries is that there are so many publicans that are doing amazing work nationwide. It was very hard to get to a shortlist so even getting to the finals is an amazing accolade for The Bell and Bear.”

PubAid, which organises the awards in association with Matthew Clark and the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, has refreshed the awards and created more categories to congratulate more community pubs throughout the UK. There are 33 finalists in total across five categories.