Gosport backstreet pub is named Pub of the Year 2020 by CAMRA real-ale enthusiasts

The Queens Hotel, in 143 Queen's Road, Gosport has been named as Portsmouth and South East CAMRA’s Pub of the Year 2020.

Landlady Sue began renting the wet-led premises in 1983, and credits her continuing success to preserving the pub across the decades.

She said: ‘This is a backstreet local, and people who have not been here for 10 years come in and say they are glad it’s not changed.

‘If we refurbished, it would ruin the character of the pub, and that’s what people want.

‘We don’t do food, we don’t have a juke box – we’re a traditional pub that’s all about the beers.’

She added: ‘It’s an honour to know that people have voted for us. It gives you real inspiration for the future.’

But Sue says it has become ‘harder and harder’ to keep a pub running, with pressure coming from rising prices and cheap alcohol in supermarkets.

The landlady, who previously lived in the New Forest, said: ‘It’s got harder – you have got do a lot more yourself.

‘The smoking ban hasn’t done much, but it’s the supermarkets, their cheap beer has had an impact.’

The Queens Hotel offers five real ales on tap, with three guest beers and two permanent fixtures, Forty Niner from the Ringwood Brewery and Young’s Bitter.

Its current guest beers include Crop Circle from Hop Back, and Fallen Acorn’s Great Scott ale and its IPA.

An annual beer festival is held every October, offering more than 20 beers.

David Bater, committee of Portsmouth and South East Camra, said Sue secured his vote and won the award because while the pub may stay the same, the beers offer ‘a real variety.’

He said: ‘There are still some places that have unusual beers, and The Queens Hotel is one of those.

‘It’s an old school pub that attracts old school beer lovers.

‘And Sue is a real character – which is what you want in a landlady.’

Urban Island, a brewery in Hilsea, won the branch award for being Brewery of the Year for the second year in a row.

The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary group which promotes real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub.