Every year the Croydon and Sutton branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) makes an award of pub of the Year in each of the two boroughs.

This year our members have judged the Green Dragon 58-60 High Street, Croydon, CR0 1NA as our Croydon winner.

Four pubs were shortlisted and they were judged on a number of criteria, the most important factor is that to be our pub of the year, a pub must serve beer (real ale) and cider in excellent condition.

Points are also awarded for: Service and Friendliness Cleanliness Style and Decor Value for money Community Service Sharing CAMRA's aims The Green Dragon was converted from a former bank and it is now named after an old pub that stood nearby, where Green Dragon House now stands.

They are welcoming to all sectors of society and they are notable for their live music, three years ago they won the title of London's best live music pub at the Great British Pub awards. The same year that they were the overall winner of the Croydon Best Bar None Awards.

The pub serves good value food during the day and always has a wide range of real ales, it is a rare outlet for selling beer on gravity dispense and they always have a locally brewed beer available.

After the rioting in Croydon last year, they became famous for their 9/11 style post-it note wall where people could express their views about Croydon in a positive way.

Recently our chairman Dave Lands presented the award to Green Dragon manager Esther Sutton (see picture) Robert King Social Secretary Croydon and Sutton CAMRA ABOUT CAMRA: CAMRA was founded in 1971 at a time when Britain's traditional cask ale and smaller family brewing companies were under threat from big international companies who sought to dominate the beer market with mass produced products that were, in the opinion of many people, vastly inferior to traditional cask conditioned ale, what we call real ale.

The battle to save our beer was won long ago and today there is vastly more choice than there was in the 1970's so CAMRA has widened it's aims and as well as campaigning to promote and preserve traditional British beer, CAMRA has for many years been campaigning to promote, preserve and protect the traditional British pub which is under threat as never before from social and demographic changes, increased taxation and red tape, ever increasing overheads and profiteering pub owning companies.

The British pub is an institution admired throughout the world and is part of our heritage and culture that makes Britain unique, local pubs also benefit their community and the local economy and our members believe that a well managed public house where people can consume alcohol in a regulated adult environment can go a long way towards reducing the problem of alcohol abuse.

CAMRA has over 130,000 members of whom approximately 1310 live in the boroughs of Croydon and Sutton.

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