Chester's 'proper old city of London boozer' back in CAMRA Good Beer Guide

Old Harkers Arms returns to the prestigious guide for 2025

A canalside Chester city centre pub that describes itself as 'a proper old city of London boozer' is back in the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide. Over the years, The Old Harkers Arms on Russell Street has been a mainstay of the prestigious guide.

And after being absent from the 2024 list, the popular Brunning and Price premises returns to the UK’s best-selling beer and pub guide for 2025 – the 52nd edition. The pub's website describes the venue as 'a proper old city of London boozer, only in Chester'.

It adds: "It's a great meeting place over a pub lunch, and at different times you'll find half the commercial and professional heart of the city in here. It's a very social place with a lovely atmosphere where you're pretty much bound to meet someone interesting."

The Old Harkers Arms was one of 17 new Cheshire pub additions to the guide, with 71 boozers from the county in total. The pub is among nine venues from Chester that have been honoured.

The guide lists 4,500 of the best pubs across the UK and is the definitive beer drinker’s guide for those seeking the best pints. Despite the tough trading environment facing a lot of licensees, the 2025 guide boasts over 900 pubs that are new to the edition.

Information is collated by thousands of CAMRA volunteers who give up their time every year to select the best of the best across the UK. CAMRA chairman Ash Corbett-Collins said: "CAMRA’s mission is to ensure support from the Government as well as tangible legislation to protect pubs in this country. By next year’s edition of the Guide, we want to be talking about the beer and pub trade growing with the support of communities and parliament alike."

The Good Beer Guide 2025 is available to order now at shop1.camra.org.uk/product/the-good-beer-guide-2025

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