PRESS RELEASE

 

8 June 2008

For immediate use
 

Pub of the Season – Lowther Arms Mawbray

Village inn bucks trend for pub closures

 

On Saturday 14th June the West Cumbria branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, will present its Spring 2008 Pub of the Season award to the Lowther Arms at Mawbray.

 

The pub was closed for 18 months after the death of its last owner in 2005 to Christmas 2006, when it was re-opened by Dawn Lindsay and her mother Mary Ritson, from Maryport.  With the help of family and friends the pub, which was falling into dereliction, had been transformed into a bright, homely  place.  The original flagstones had been revealed for the first time in decades, and a long-forgotten fireplace was re-opened. 

 

Back in 2005, when the Lowther looked to be in danger of closing for ever, local residents identified what they wanted from their village pub: quality pub grub; locally produced real ales; a beer garden; a venue for quiz and darts teams; a child friendly atmosphere with non smoking areas; and above all a welcoming local pub for local people.  Dawn is delighted that their wishes fitted neatly with her vision for the pub. 

 

Now it’s a thriving place at the heart of the local community, with a camping and caravan site attached.  There is a good selection of traditional home cooked food, and there are two handpumps, usually dispensing beers from local West Cumbria breweries, in particular nearby Yates of Westnewton and Derwent, based at Silloth, but also from Hesket Newmarket and Cockermouth’s Jennings and Bitter End breweries.

 

‘I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the sceptics who said I would never sell real ale in Mawbray,’ says Dawn, ‘it’s one of the best things I did.’  She is overjoyed to receive CAMRA’s award.  ‘I couldn’t believe it when I was told – it took a couple of days to sink in,’ she recalls. 

 

Explaining the reason for the Pub of the Season award branch chairman Stephen Walker said, ‘In an era when we hear of over 50 pub closures a month around the country, there could easily have no longer been a pub in Mawbray.  It just shows that with imagination and hard work, even the smallest community can support a thriving local pub’.

 

For further information contact:

 

            Ros Berry, Press Officer, CAMRA West Cumbria                        01900   828384

            Stephen Walker, Chairman, CAMRA West Cumbria                   01900  828748

Dawn Lindsay, Lowther Arms, Mawbray                                        01900   881337

 

Notes for the editor

 

  • CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is a campaigning organisation with over 90,000 members nationwide.