South Shields pub wins top award from real ale lovers

The Steamboat, in Mill Dam, South Shields, has been named as Sunderland and South Tyneside’s Camra Pub of the Year.

The win comes after members of the Campaign For Real Ale throughout the area voted for the pub.

The pub, which was built in the early 1800s, is already one of the top 16 in the county, after scooping the regional title last summer.

Bar manager Kathleen Brain is now hoping the venue will fly the flag once again when it battles it out in the regional finals later this year.

Kathleen said: “We’re delighted that we’ve been given this award again, and it’s such an achievement to know that our pub is one of the best 16 in the country.

“We constantly push to make improvements and we try to use local brewers as often as possible, while changing the ales so our customers have lots of choice.”

The pub regularly hosts cheese and ale nights, along with “meet the brewer” events.

The pub has eight real ale handpulls, which Kathleen is thinking about increasing to nine by removing the less popular cider pump.

Kathleen and the rest of the staff will now be visited by ‘mystery shoppers’ over the next few months while they wait to see if they make it to the regional finals.

After that they could be heading to the super regional awards and then finally the nationals.

Kathleen added: “We’d like to say thank you to all of them members who voted for us.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed we’ll make it to the regionals again this year.”