What makes a pub garden a success?

The Great British Pub Awards took place this week and the overall winner was the Tamworth Tap in Staffordshire.

My interest in the awards goes back to a three-year period (2011-2013) when I was on the panel of judges that chose the winner of the Best Smoking Area award, a category that was sponsored by JTI and Forest’s Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign.

The aim was to celebrate and reward those pubs that went the extra mile to accommodate smokers in the wake of the smoking ban. The effort (and expense) that some landlords went to provide a comfortable smoking area was genuinely impressive, although one or two shot themselves in the foot with the location. (I remember one being directly adjacent to a children’s play area, for example.)

In recent years the Great British Pub Awards have moved around the country (this year’s event took place at the First Direct Bank Arena in Leeds), but back then they were held annually in London at the Hilton Park Lane hotel and as part of our sponsorship arrangement we were given two tables of ten which we filled by inviting various guests, including MPs, peers and journalists.

When that agreement came to an end the award was discontinued but the Tamworth Tap - a pub I wrote about here two years ago - would certainly be a contender for Best Smoking Area if the category still existed.

Indeed it’s interesting to note that, when asked what makes an outdoor space/beer garden a success, the proprietors of the Overall Great British Pub of the Year 2026 have said: “The sun is an obvious one, but a good layout, interesting focal points, comfortable clean seating/tables, background music and separate smoking areas.”

Not sure about background music (do we need music everywhere?) and there’s a debate to be had about ‘separate’ smoking areas outside, but at least they acknowledge that smokers should be accommodated.

See: Britain's best pub named - but landlord warns it’s ’feeling the pinch’ (Mirror)

Great British Pub Awards, Hilton Park Lane, 2010