Saturday 27th October saw a contingent of CAMRA members visit the Seven Stars pub in Falmouth to launch the 50th Anniversary Good Beer Guide (2023 edition) and present a certificate to the pub.

The Seven Stars is a timeless and unspoilt town-centre local that is recognised by CAMRA as having a nationally important historic interior.

The off-licence, "bottle and jug" hatch still exists and carries the 1976 GBG window sticker!

We met in a room upstairs that can be used for meetings or further drinking space.

The main bar is a narrow taproom with beers served on gravity with two quieter rooms at the rear.

Some regulars and the CAMRA members gathered in the main bar to see CAMRA Kernow chairman Dugg launch the Guide and explain that the Good Beer Guide is a publication of the Campaign for Real Ale and is totally independent of any commercial beer publication organisation.

It is entirely researched by volunteers, who also inspect a large number of pubs, with only a few making it into the publication every year. For those lucky enough to make it into the Guide, it is a great accolade. Unlike other beer publications no money is paid by any of the pubs to be entered in it. The Guide is available to buy from CAMRA at a price of £16 plus postage.

The Guide launched, it was on to the second part of the proceedings, the presentation of a Certificate of Excellence to the Seven Stars for being in 49 of 50 editions of the Good Beer Guide. Only 5 pubs in the country have made it into all 50 editions, so to manage 49 is a big accomplishment, even more poignant as it was the only one of our pubs in Cornwall to manage this.

The certificate mounted in a gold frame was presented to Amy Bennetts, the latest member of the Bennetts family to hold the licence for the pub. It has been in the same family for 170 years. Amy was very pleased to accept the certificate and thanked Cornwall CAMRA and her son even got in on the photos.

The presentations over, there was a little imbibing of the excellent real ale along with some comestibles, provided by Amy and her staff.

Thank you Amy and your crew for your hospitality.

Dugg Polman and Steve Barber