BBC production starring Ralph Fiennes being filmed in HarrogateNidderdale pub visited by Kate Winslet wins CAMRA country pub award

A Nidderdale pub has been named country pub of the year by the local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

The Crown at Middlesmoor has picked up the award, which recognises “beer quality and its contribution to the community and tourism”.

Alan Gould, chair of the Harrogate and Ripon CAMRA, presented the prize to landlady Angie Snow and her son Samuel.

Mr Gould said village pubs were important and pointed out some were the subject to campaigns to be bought by their local communities.

In a post on its social media, the pub said:

“So we have just been awarded country pub of the year 2023. So proud of all our staff who work hard to keep us going.”

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The pub is known to attract celebrities on occasion and was visited by Oscar winning actress, Kate Winslet, in May this year.

Kate Winslet, centre, with Megan Dunn and Angela Snow at the Crown in Middlesmoor

Kate Winslet, centre, with Megan Dunn and Angela Snow at the pub this year.

CAMRA’s Harrogate and Ripon branch covers a large area of North Yorkshire including parts of a national park and an area of outstanding natural beauty.

It runs two separate pub of the year awards, one for country pub and another for town pubs.

Last month, CAMRA awarded The Oatlands club on Coronation Grove in Harrogate best club in the area for 2023.

Emmy award for former Ripon Grammar School student

Former Ripon Grammar School (RGS) student Mark Hills has won an Emmy award for his work in creating an audio production system credited with revolutionising the television industry.

The computer expert and his business partner Marc Bacos created the ground-breaking system used in the production of innovative soundtracks for hit TV series such as The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit, The Flight Attendant and Line of Duty.

The pair received their Emmys at a glitzy award ceremony in Beverley Hills and afterwards Mr Hills said that receipt of the small screen equivalent of an Oscar had come ‘completely out of the blue.’

He added:

“It’s great that as a technologist these awards are within reach. We hadn’t had any previous contact with the Television Academy.

“The judges seemed to be really impressed with what we had done.”

Their Cleanfeed system, which works for radio, TV and film, connects studios together so that the quality sounds as if it’s all being recorded in the same room.

Mr Hills, whose parents Peter and Greta live in Sharow, pointed out:

“We made this kind of technology accessible in a way it wasn’t before.”

The 41-year-old, who left RGS in 1999 to study computer science at university, is no stranger to awards.

In 2014, he was part of a large team at British visual effects company Framestore which won both the Oscar and Bafta for best visual effects for the film Gravity, starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock.

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