About 5 miles north of Cockermouth, near the River Ellen lies the village of Gilcrux. The village is shown on a map of Cumberland by Christopher Saxon, dated 1567, in which the village was named Gilcrosse.

Landlady Andy and Landlord Hal acquired the Masons Arms in Gilcrux in 2021, prior to which they had run The Barn Bistro just over the road for 10 years.

Following a vote by active members of the West Cumbria Branch of CAMRA, the Masons Arms was selected as 2026 Pub of the Year for the branch area in the face of stiff competition from several other excellent public houses.

The award was presented on Saturday 2nd May by West Cumbria branch secretary Geoff Wilkinson, pictured here with Andy and Hal. Geoff made an excellent speech prior to handing over the framed award.

The Masons Arms is also featured in the current CAMRA Good Beer Guide. The food is first class and the pub has a beer garden at the rear. Food is served Thursday to Sunday.

The Good Beer Guide entry states that the Masons sells Courage Best Bitter, Kelburn Dark Moor plus 2 changing Cumbrian ales

The new owners of Jennings Brewery are staging a beer festival on Friday 17th April and Saturday 18th.

Opening hours are 4pm to 10pm on the Friday and 12 noon to 9pm on the Saturday.

Admittance charge is £8 per adult per day.

There will be street food available and live music all weekend. It is dog friendly and no entry fee for children.

A list of the beers on sale is as follows, although no prices were available :

West Cumbria branch Chairman, Phil Wolstencroft presented the Captain Nelson pub in Maryport with the Pub of the Season award, Winter 2026, on Sunday 15th February in the company of a delegation of active branch members.

Branch stalwart Len Wainwright, who was at the presentation writes :

This award to mine hosts Avril and Philip Routledge is in recognition of the work they have done, turning an empty premises into one of the best pubs in Maryport. The pub had been closed for about 5 years, so this is a remarkable achievement.

Avril and Philip are pictured here in subdued lighting with their award with branch chairman Phil on the left of the photo.

The Captain Nelson always has at least a couple of local real ales on offer and feedback from local branch members reports that the beers are always in fine fettle.

The pub has a distinct nautical theme and is well placed as a watering hole for thirsty sailors from the nearby marina.

Activities in the pub include music events, quiz nights and even monthly wine tasting sessions.

Sadly, Ray Seavers, landlord of the Bush at Tallentire, died on Christmas Eve.

Ray and his wife Monica moved to the village of Tallentire (populatiion about 200) in 2005 and following extensive renovations they opened The Bush (pictured here) about a year later.

Previous to this they had run The White Bull at Eccleston in Lancashire.

Ray was extremely knowledgeable about real ales and cellarmanship and he was especially enthusiastic about some Scottish beers, which he often sold in The Bush on his 3 changing handpumps.

Since Ray and Monica started trading at The Bush they successfully put it firmly at the heart of the local community. Each Christmas they hosted a Mummers Play and carol singing and Ray was a member of the local Morris Dancing Team.

The Bush at Tallentire has the distinction of being listed in the 2026 CAMRA Good Beer Guide, courtesy of its well kept real ales.

Ray is sadly missed and we wish to express our sincerest condolences to Monica and family.

Stephen Walker

West Cumbria CAMRA , Committee Member

Jennings Taproom public bar at the historic Castle Brewery in Cockermouth has been awarded the Pub of the Season (Autumn 2025) by the West Cumbria branch of CAMRA. Pictured here from left to right are branch member Stephen Walker, Jennings Taproom manager Gavin Cooper along with staff members Simon Hanley and Cohen Henry.

Since the brewery reopened earlier this year the Taproom has been a big hit with drinkers with its spacious bar area and outside drinking veranda overlooking the River Cocker.

It is generally agreed that the quality of the current range of Jennings real ales is excellent, with what used to be called Jennings Bitter now renamed Castle Bitter.

Jennings Brewery has the unique distinction of being the only brewery in the country located right next to a Medieval castle.

Black Eye Friday in Keswick has traditionally been one of the wildest nights of the year in this market town, this being the last Friday before Christmas when younger local manual workers used to let their hair down. But this year the main pedestrian thoroughfare in the town was noticeably quiet mid-evening , although the pubs looked to be doing good trade.

Walking up through the Market Place, Greene King’s Golden Lion pub had a full house at 8.30pm and with a brass band playing carols.

A crowd of us met up in The George Hotel for a Christmas drink shortly after that and it was great to see that the decor in this old coaching inn, which dates back to the English Civil War, was greatly improved, as a previous tenant had modernised the bar with shades of light pastel. The bar with its snug room on the left was looking so much better than when we were last in.

We had used the George for many years, meeting up after our darts match on a Friday night and often struggling to get a seat, but on arrival last night there was just a solitary customer in the bar and he had his dog next to him on the fabric bench seat. We had stopped drinking there after Marstons Pub Company took over and terminated the long term tenant’s lease, as they managed at a stroke to kill the busy trade in there.

We were tempted back as word was out that Jennings beers were back on the bar.

The Jennings Bitter was excellent and we would have been happy to continue drinking until the usual 11.30pm closing time of yesteryear but they rang the bell at 10 o’clock and then turned quite a few unsuspectiing customers away who drifted in after that time. The barperson told us that they usually shut at 9.30pm. This is a most unusual practice for a residential hotel with 12 bedrooms.

We were also told that tourists regularly ask for Cow Pie, which the pre-Marstons tenant had established as his popular signature dish, but they now have a standard Marston’s menu and they aren’t allowed any variations.

There was no one eating in the George while we were there, it was extremely quiet and their formerly popular hotel/bar restaurant was shut and with the lights turned off.

Also the pub was noticably chilly which it never used to be and for many years this lovely old pub was a firm favourite with locals and tourists alike.

Having been refused service after 10 o’clock we moved on from the George to Robinson’s Packhorse pub, which was doing good trade and has a late night licence.

But at least the Jennings Bitter was well kept in the George, so we were thankful for small mercies.

HGP