The Coopers Tavern on Cross Street, Burton upon Trent has won an award and for once it has nothing to do with the quality of the beer. The CAMRA Pub Design Awards are designed to highlight architecture, design and conservation in British pubs and this year the Joule’s pub has been officially recognised for the conservation work that took place in 2017 by being bestowed the Historic England Award for Conservation.
The careful refurbishment saw a new beer garden and two extra rooms which share the same unique character of the original pub in such a way that a first-time visitor wouldn’t realise which rooms had only been recently added. The narrow corridor leading into the bar area with it’s even narrower counter still makes this one of the few pubs where it is not only acceptable to queue for a pint, but essential.
The history of the Coopers Tavern stretches back over 200 years; originally a house for the Brewer in Charge at Bass, it was used to store special malts and then in 1826 as a storeroom for Imperial Stout. Legend has it that it became an unofficial drinking place for Bass Coopers, hence the name, and was first licenced in 1858. It spent many years as the Bass Brewery Tap. After spending a number of years under the ownership of Kimberley Ales, who added what is now the William Bass Meeting Room in the 1990’s, the pub was bought by Joules. Along with a full range of their beers and an ever-changing array of guest ales, Draught Bass was reintroduced; served directly from the barrel of course, in keeping with a long-standing Burton tradition that dates back to when the pub was little more than a room with a few chairs and a barrel.
Andrew Davison, chair of CAMRA’s judging panel: “People sometimes assume that ‘conservation’ simply means ‘preservation in aspic’. However, Historic England, the sponsor of the award, has long advocated constructive conservation where the features which give a building its special character are retained and conserved, whilst changes which will give it a viable future are carried out as carefully and sympathetically as possible.
“This has been done to very good effect at the Coopers Tavern. The introduction of a ‘proper’ bar counter, which might have been expected to dismay lovers of a pub which has only the tiniest of counters in the historic tap room, has been handled with great care whilst new public rooms have been created from private accommodation in a way which is totally in keeping with the historic core. A very worthy winner of this award.”
“This pub is particularly important to us, with Joule’s previous association with Bass,” admits Marie Poole, the Property Manager of Joule’s. “When we came to site to start the work I did feel that the eyes of the world were boring down on us. On many occasions I found people lurking outside, peering through the window …” she laughs. “It was a labour of love for us and we paid reverence to what is a shrine for beer. We then passed it onto the Landlady Mandy who has done a great job looking after it and I know she cherishes this pub.”
“I am extremely proud of the award,” says Landlady Mandy Addis, who took over the pub two years ago. “It’s a brilliant accolade to Joules and the team for their amazing work. I feel so lucky to be the Landlady here, it is such a beautiful building steeped in history.”
Other winners were:
Refurbishment category
Winner: The Pilot Boat in Lyme Regis
Highly commended: The Sekforde Arms, London
Conversion to Pub Use category
Joint Winner: The Royal Pavilon in Ramsgate
Joint Winner: The Slaughterhouse in Guernsey
Highly Commended: The Butcher’s Hook, Gloucestershire
Highly Commended: The Draughtsman Alehouse, Doncaster
Joe Goodwin Award (best street corner local)
Winner: Cardigan Arms, Leeds
What a fabulous award , Well done to joules and to all involved at the coopers tavern.
A worthy winner indeed.
Congratulations to all the other winners too.
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