The Rose and Crown in Ashbury, a charming village inn with comfortable rooms and wholesome home-cooked food, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the influential pub industry awards, PubAid’s Community Pub Hero Awards.
The pub was nominated by its General Manager, Holly Royle, in the Community Support Hero Category and has seen competition from almost 1,000 other pubs nationwide.
This Community Support Hero Award recognises licensees who help their communities. It recognises pubs which are a ‘good neighbour’ to their local community. Three other pubs, The Clifton Arms in Blackburn, The Admiral Rodney Inn in Harshorne and The Bell and Bear in Emberton, have also been shortlisted.
The pub was shortlisted because it has become a vital community hub. Beyond its regular services like the twice-weekly in-pub post office, monthly barbers service, quiz nights, themed events, and charity initiatives, the Rose and Crooners choir stands out.
With over 50 members, this choir bridges generations, fosters connections, and supports mental health. Rehearsing in the pub, they organise charity concerts in the local village hall, raising funds for causes like the Swindon Christmas Carers and various food banks.
Holly Royle, General Manager of The Rose and Crown, said: “We cannot express, in words, what this means to us at The Rose and Crown, from the team, the choir, the locals, the guests!
“Ashbury is such a special place, where magic happens, where our main goal is to ensure that everyone feels like part of a family, and where we can make a difference in someone else’s life every day. They say it takes a village; we are so proud to be at the heart of ours.
“Community is something that can be created anywhere, it just needs a spark to light the fire. But all that matters to us, is that we are supporting our community and making a difference in the world, it is so easy to do, if you choose to! Just getting through to the finals is immense!”
The winners will be announced at an award ceremony, sponsored by Matthew Clark, at the Houses of Parliament on 05 March, and all shortlisted pubs are invited to attend along with industry leaders and MPs.
Des O’Flanagan, Co-founder of PubAid, added: “We launched these awards to celebrate the great work that pubs do for their community. The Rose and Crown is a perfect example of how pubs support and are a hub for many people in their community.
The awards are in their fifth year, and the volume of entries this year was staggering. What clearly came across from reading all the entries is that there are so many publicans who are doing amazing work nationwide. It was very hard to get to a shortlist, so even getting to the finals is an amazing accolade for The Rose and Crown.”
PubAid, which organises the awards in association with Matthew Clark and the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, has refreshed the awards and created more categories to congratulate more community pubs throughout the UK. There are 33 finalists in total across five categories.
