IS YOUR local the best pub in the area?

Does it serve delicious pub grub, offer an unrivalled selection of real ales, or have friendly staff who make it worthy of an award?

Whatever the reason, you can share everything you love about your favourite pub by nominating it to win The Gazette’s new Pub of the Year competition.

We are teaming up with Thornbury and Yate MP Luke Hall to find the best watering hole in Thornbury, Yate and Chipping Sodbury, and the winning landlords will be invited to spend a day in Westminster and serve their brewery’s beer at a bar inside the Houses of Parliament.

There will be separate winners for both Thornbury and the Yate and Sodbury areas.

Mr Hall said: “Pubs are the lifeblood of many of our local communities and this award is a great way of recognising and celebrating that.

“As a local man myself, I am a great supporter of our pubs and I very much look forward to welcoming the winners of the Pub of the Year competition to the House of Commons and having their local ale served in the bar in parliament.”

Michael Harrington, landlord of The Beaufort Hunt in Chipping Sodbury, said: “I think it is very important to keep the community spirit going, and landlords and landladies work hard to keep it up and keep standards high.

“There has been a decline in pubs over the past eight years so I think it is important to highlight local pubs, in small towns in particular, which will be done by running the competition.”

Sandra Davies, landlady at The Swan in Thornbury, added: “People are all too willing to criticise a pub but competitions like this are great at showing the best of pubs.

“This competition will help people discover fantastic pubs that they may not know about.”

Jo Martin, manager of The Lawns in Yate, said: “I think the Pub of the Year competition is a great idea.

“It will enable people to find out about small local pubs that they wouldn’t have necessarily visited before.”

To nominate your favourite pub in Thornbury, Yate, Chipping Sodbury and the surrounding villages, e-mail reporter Alexandra Womack via sodbury@gazetteseries.co.uk.

Watch this space for further details.