Club of the Year 2026

CAMRA runs a nation-wide competition every year, in conjunction with Club Mirror magazine to find the country’s best clubs. This starts with each Branch awarding its own Branch Club of the Year, and this year South Oxfordshire Branch are very pleased to announce that the Comrades Club in Wallingford has been awarded the Branch Club of the Year for 2026.

The aim of the competition is to find the best clubs with the greatest commitment to promoting and selling cask ales, served in great condition – but also very importantly those which offer a fantastic atmosphere, great facilities, a range of events throughout the year, and welcoming surroundings to all members of the local community.

The Comrades Club offers three or four regularly changing cask ales, more often from small, independent breweries, and indeed also a couple of proper ciders. The quality of the ales served is consistently very high, as reported by the Club’s CAMRA members on CAMRA’s website. There are also great facilities here with darts, several snookers tables and board games, sports TV screens, and also regular events such as quiz nights and music nights. It is also heavily involved in the town and events such as Bunkfest.

All-in-all the club is a super place to meet people, make new friends and socialise over a great beer or two. So, it is with great pleasure that we present this Award to Lucy and Oz (pictured with Branch Chair Graham Hards) on occasion of being awarded South Oxfordshire CAMRA’s Club of the Year 2026. Many congratulations to you both!

The club now goes forward to the Regional round of the competition, where it would be competing against the winning clubs from Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. This then leads to the National finals later in the year.

Article credit to Graham Hards (Branch Chair)