Good Beer Guide Selection Every year, the branch selects the very best pubs serving cask conditioned and live beer in the branch area for inclusion in CAMRA's publication The Good Beer Guide. The branch is currently allocated 9 places for pubs/clubs in the Greater Manchester region. A club may be considered for the Good Beer Guide so long as the Club follows the “Eligibility” section of CAMRA’s Club of the Year Competition Procedure, which is available in the Members area of the CAMRA main website The Guide is usually published in September but the selection process starts 12 months earlier.

Selecting the Pubs All CAMRA members can submit 'beer scores' for every live beer they drink in pubs, bars and clubs across the country via the National Beer Scoring Scheme (NBSS). Scores can be entered via the WhatPub.com website, the Good Beer Guide mobile app and even manually. Scores are recorded against the pub, not against a brewery and their beer, although providing the brewery and beer helps the branch. CAMRA Members can nominate pubs directly to the Branch via email, messenger etc but not via any media in the public domain i.e. Facebook.

For Good Beer Guide selection, the branch reviews all scores and pubs submitted in line with the National Pub of the Year Procedure. A pub with one handpump has the same chance of being selected as a multiple handpump pub. See appendix 2 of the CAMRA’s Pub of the Year Competition Procedure, which is available in the Members area of the CAMRA main website. Every year the branch compiles a "shortlist" of pubs based on the beer scores and pubs submitted. To be eligible for inclusion in the shortlist, the pub/club must have a minimum time period of 6 months under the same Management. The final shortlist is discussed at the January/February branch meetings. All pubs on the shortlist in January are surveyed in person by a branch member. The surveyor is tasked with checking that there are no changes to the pubs' management that might affect consistent beer quality - for example that the manager or main person responsible for the cellar has left the pub (or is leaving). Normally a pub which has had a major change of management or cellar keeping in the six months before surveying is deemed ineligible but exceptions can be made when other personnel are unchanged or the incoming personnel have a previous pedigree of running Good Beer Guide pubs. Surveyors also ensure that the information which will appear in the Good Beer Guide and the Good Beer Guide App is correct - e.g. opening times, meal times, permanent cask ales, regularly featured breweries and facilities. The surveyor also writes the first draft of the description of the pub which will appear in the Good Beer Guide. The description is limited to 80 words and can be edited by the Good Beer Guide editorial team to ensure it meets the style guidelines for the Guide In February each year, the branch holds a Good Beer Guide Selection Meeting at a local pub Branch Members discuss the pubs shortlisted, then asked to vote for the pubs that they believe should be awarded a place in the Guide. This takes place by secret ballot by the Branch Members The 9 pubs receiving the most votes are provisionally awarded a place in the Good Beer Guide. In the event of a tie, a vote on a show of hands of those present at the selection meeting is made. If the show of hands is tied, the chair of the meeting has the casting vote. The three pubs receiving the next highest number of votes are selected as Reserves. Should any selected pub close, have a change of management or beer quality significantly deteriorate between the selection meeting and the Guide going to press (usually in late July or early August), the pub can be removed and replaced by a pub on the reserve list. Note that this page details the selection process in the South East Lancashire Branch. Each CAMRA branch has its own process for selection of pubs to the Good Beer Guide. The Good Beer Guide editorial team can also choose to omit pubs during the editing process (for example to adjust the pagination of the guide). The Good Beer Guide Editor's decision is final.