By Jill Stocks
A popular Horsforth venue is up for a prestigious national honour in the finals of the Great British Pub Awards.
The awards recognise venues across the country in a variety of categories, including Best Pub for Dogs, Best Community Pub and Best Pub for Families.
Granvilles, on Long Row, is shortlisted for the Best Beer Pub category alongside five others, including two other pubs from Yorkshire.
Grace Atha, is Senior General Manager and oversees two other venues alongside Granvilles; the Malt Brewhouse on Town Street and Reubens Beer and Gin House in Bingley, but describes Granvilles as “my baby”.
“We’re absolutely over the moon to be shortlisted,” Grace said. “To be recognised on a national level alongside some truly outstanding pubs is a huge honour, especially in such a competitive category. It’s a real testament to the hard work, passion and care our team puts into every pint we serve.
“Laura Emsley (General Manager), Tim Clapson (Assistant Manager) and I are all chuffed to bits. We are incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved so far, and we’re feeling really grateful for the continued support from our brilliant local community here in Horsforth.”
“We went through two stages. We had to do an application with a few questions. The second stage was more in depth with 13 quite intense questions of how we promoted beer, how we celebrate beer, how we love local breweries and support independent brewers and keep it as local as possible.
“We’re chuffed just to get this far but to win would just be amazing. But it’s a tough competition.”
The pub will now receive a visit from the head judge of their category at some point before the middle of August. They will look at all aspects of the pub including the front of house, the back of house areas and the cellar and how the beer is kept, as well as speaking to the staff and the management team.
“They’ll look at how we’re unique as a beer pub. We have all rotating casks. We’ve got ten keg lines and there’s several of those that are rotating as well. We’ve got loads of craft beer. We get quite a lot of limited stuff and collabs between breweries.”
Following the judges’ visit there will then be an interview with a couple of people coming to the venue. The awards ceremony will be held on 24 September and will this year be held in Leeds at the First Direct Arena.
The venue opened in 2018, and is named after the owners Grandad, and during covid the pub was transformed into a bottle shop. It’s a dog friendly venue, with a small beer garden.
“We’re not a massive place but I think we use our space as well as we can. We’ve got a really good reputation with our loyal regulars and people of Horsforth. We just love Granvilles and what it’s about.”
Tim Clapson is the assistant manager at Granvilles.
He said: “I’ve worked in other bars that are a little bit different to here. I’ve been here for just under a year now and it’s great. Customers are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. It’s just about pouring good beer but I can chat with customers about beer for a good hour straight.”
Grace thinks that the little touches, such as the fresh flowers on the tables and fluffy cushions, also make a difference.
“It’s always about the finer details and I’ve always liked interior design and everything looking a bit nice. When I first started here it was really cold. It was an empty shell.
“We’ve spent a lot of time and a lot of effort. We’ve done the outdoor space obviously when covid happened and we could only have people outside.”
There are five other pubs in the Best Beer Pub Category. Alongside the Riverhead Brewery Tap in Marsden, Huddersfield and Blind Jacks in Knaresborough, are three other pubs in Lancashire, Staffordshire and London.
“It’s just a massive achievement. We’re very proud about what we do. We take a lot of pride in it. We love to give good customer service. We’re always up for giving recommendations. We like to try things that are a bit quirky.”
You can see a full list of the finalists in all of the categories here.
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