It’s a double triumph for the Carpenters Arms at Westrip—and a double triumph for the third year running, writes Tim Mars.
The pub is not just Stroud CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year but has prevailed in the next round to be crowned Gloucestershire CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year again, winning against such formidable cider strongholds as the Pelican, Gloucester, and the Hoptician, Dursley. (Cirencester and Forest of Dean did not nominate a pub).
Stroud CAMRA presented Sammy McKie, owner and licensee of the Carpenters Arms, with a framed certificate as our Cider Pub of the Year for 2025 on a cool overcast Sunday in April. Sammy reciprocated by bringing out a large tray of cider samples for those taking part in the photos.
Sammy has had the area over the bar repainted (including the new CAMRA logo) reflecting her current award status, though a further win may jeopardise the integrity of this artwork.
Aside from (officially) the best range of cider in Gloucestershire, for those who preferred other libations there were three real ales and all the usual sedative-hypnotics behind the double-sided bar that serves both the lounge and the public bar.
The musical backdrop to proceedings was provided by the Wurzels and in particular their track, ‘I am a Cider Drinker’, which reached number three in the charts in September 1976.
As well as Stroud CAMRA members, Andrew Frape, Gloucestershire CAMRA Chair, was there in recognition of the pub being crowned Gloucestershire CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year. Jim Hill from Dursley CAMRA showed his enthusiasm for the pub by tunnelling under the wall from Dursley.
The Carpenters is a whitewashed stone-built pub right at the north-western edge of the Cashes Green conurbation, close to the Cotswold Way. It is located on a steep hillside with spectacular and panoramic views over Stroud, from Rodborough Fort to the Bear Hotel at Amberley and across to Selsley, and all along the valley towards the River Severn.
Sammy bought the pub in 2019 and has proved a hands-on, energetic and enterprising publican. There’s always something going on at the ‘Carps’, whether it’s live music, a quiz, a raffle, Singo Bingo, Let’s Paint, breakfast at the weekend, steak nights, premiership rugby on the widescreen TV, carols at Christmas, and even an annual dog show!
This is quite a turnaround for the pub, which was once closed and risked being lost to a residential conversion after being declared unviable by so-called ‘industry specialists’
Previously the pub was owned by Punch Taverns with landlord Steve Poulter as their tenant for many years. It was subject to an unsuccessful application by Pubmaster (now part of Punch) for planning permission for conversion to residential in 1997. This was refused by Stroud District Council. Pubmaster went to appeal, the appeal was rejected and the pub was saved from closure.
The Carpenters Arms was advertised for sale as an ‘ideal lifestyle purchase [that] would also appeal to purchasers looking to open on restricted hours and benefit from three-bedroom private accommodation in a desirable residential area’. Neon Homes bought the pub and built two houses on part of the car park. It was eventually advertised as for sale freehold at £300,000 or to let on a free-of-tie lease. Sammy McKie bought the pub in 2019.
The Carps now goes into the next round for the Gloucestershire area award and is up against the Cross House Tavern, Tewkesbury, and the Strand, Cheltenham. The winner of this round goes up against the best that Herefordshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire have to offer. And so on, until one pub out of a shortlist of four is crowned national CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year.
Which just goes to show that it’s not all bad news on the pub front and that a village local in a peripheral location at the edge of an urban area, with a hands-on, energetic and enterprising publican can triumph against the odds over property speculators intent on converting any pubs they get their greedy hands on to residential in order to achieve a higher return.
That’s surely worth raising a glass (of cider) to!
