Little Wellingborough pub packed with more than 70 ciders pulls top CAMRA award
It might be one of the county’s smallest pubs but Wellingborough’s Little R’Ale House has scooped a big prize after being voted Northamptonshire CAMRA’s Cider Pub of the Year.
It’s a hat-trick for the bijou bar based at Wellingborough Station as the pub packed with more than 70 ciders has taken the title three years in a row.
But customer-turned-landlady Mary Donaldson, who took over Little R’Ale House in 2022, says the award is thanks to customers and staff.
She said: “I’m gobsmacked. It’s extremely humbling but it’s down to the customers.”
After taking over behind the bar ‘by accident’, she decided to expand the offer by adding a full range of flat and sparkling ciders including several fruity flavours – including passionfruit, cherry, cranberry, pineapple and rhubarb – to perries made from pears and even spicy ones containing chillies.
Guided by bar staff Richard Marriott and John ‘Norty’ Norton, Mary has learnt the trade by sharing their brew knowledge.
She said: “They have been absolutely fantastic making the place what it is. I’ve got the most amazing clientele. We don’t look at it as a pub, we look at it as a family. Everybody cares about each other.”
If successful in the regional stage of the CAMRA competition, The Little R’Ale House could go forward to the national finals.
Mary said: “I listen to my customers and if they have tried a cider somewhere else I will often get it in.”
And the top sellers are the strong rustic cider Black Dragon at 8.4 per cent and Pheasant Plucker at 4.5 per cent, a natural unfiltered vat-matured cloudy cider.
Raising a glass to mark the achievement, Richard Burgham, chairman of CAMRA Northamptonshire, said: “It’s not just the quality of cider, it’s the choice of cider and the facilities and this fantastic pub came out top so congratulations to them.”