South Shields pub The Marine crowned Sunderland and South Tyneside’s CAMRA Pub of the Year for the second time

The Marine was voted Pub of the Year 2022 by CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) members in Sunderland and South Tyneside.

The pub on Ocean Road topped veteran winner The Steamboat, on Mill Dam, for the second time after it last took the top prize in 2020.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The Marine could not enjoy the full benefit from the boost that the competition brings as the regional and national rounds were cancelled.

With the competition not held last year, the pub will now go into the regional round where it will be judged along with Durham, Darlington, Tyneside and Northumberland pubs for a place in the national competition.

Speaking about their recent win, assistant manager Claire Pallas-Drummond said that everyone was “over the moon” at the result.

She commented: “When the owners Steph and Alex found out, they sent out a big message to all of the staff thanking them for their efforts.

"Given the problems caused by the pandemic, things like this make all the hard work feel like it was worth it as throughout all the hardship, we managed to keep going.

"Everyone is just over the moon with the winning the award for the second time.”

Since it was announced that the pub had won the award, staff have received messages of support from many of their regular customers.

Claire added: "The customers have all been so supportive of us winning the award, we’ve had so many messages of congratulations from our regulars.

"It is nice to know that people enjoy drinking here as much as we all enjoy working in the pub.”

The press and public affairs spokesman for the Sunderland and South Tyneside CAMRA branch, Michael Wynne, has wished The Marine well on the next stage of the competition.

He said: “We congratulate the winners on their awards in what has been a very difficult couple of years for pubs and clubs.

“We also wish the pubs every success in the national stages of the competition.”

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