Pub of the Season
Punch Bowl, Great Broughton
Telephone:01900 824708
How do I write a new piece in praise of a pub that I have praised many times before?
The Punchbowl in Great Broughton is a pub where we felt welcome from the first time we set foot in it; it is so popular with beer lovers in West Cumbria it has now been awarded CAMRA’s Pub of the Season. From the outside it is unassuming but if it you were to pass it by you would have missed a real treat. Inside it is a bit like walking into the front room of a cottage, with a low ceiling, beams and boards showing through, and photos of local Rugby League teams on the walls.
The building originates from around 1600 and was built as a small coaching inn; there was a blacksmith’s shop behind the main building for shoeing horses. Lord Leconfield held his annual court in the Punchbowl until ‘recent years’; presumably for collecting rents and other dues, settling disputes and so on. In these times the landlord would probably have brewed his own beer on the premises. More recently, the pub was part of the State Management system, and sold the beer brewed in Carlisle.
Shirley and Albert Charters, originally from Maryport, took on the tenancy of the Huntsman in Cockermouth in 1974. Last year they celebrated 30 years in the licensed trade. Before settling down Albert was in the army and merchant navy (he will tell you tales about his travels) and worked as a long distance lorry driver. Jennings Bros bought the Punchbowl in 1972 from its sitting tenants, and Shirley and Albert moved there from the Huntsman in 1976. In 1998 they bought the pub from Jennings.
Although no longer tied to the brewery, Jennings Bitter remains a favourite with locals, and is always on the bar. But about three years ago Albert started experimenting with guest beers, mainly to start with from Cumbrian breweries. Since then he has got more adventurous, but has found a congenial supplier of beer in Archers of Swindon. The regional Wiltshire brewery has a distribution centre in Warrington, and Albert has now tried over 20 of their ever-changing seasonal beers, as well as some of their regulars such as the famous Golden Bitter (4.7%). Recently he has also taken beers from a new brewery in Bradford, William Greenwood, run by three Rugby League fans. In between, Albert takes beers from local Cumbrian breweries, including Yates, Hawkshead, Coniston, Tirril and Derwent. The Punchbowl also has the distinction of being the only pub other than the Kirkstile to stock Loweswater beers – brewer Matt Webster is a local.
Having retired from lorry driving Albert has more time to spend on his hobby of woodturning – one or two pieces are displayed in the bar. Shirley is an active fundraiser for local charities and also act as distribution point for the local veg box scheme. The pub is home-from-home for many Great Broughton residents, who will include new visitors in their conversation. It also attracts beer lovers from around Cumbria and further afield.
The pub has featured in almost every edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide over the last 20 years. It received a special award from the West Cumbria branch back in the 1980s, and was BLRA’s Community Pub of the Year in 1999. Now it has been voted Pub of the Season for Spring 2005. It is well deserved.