Lincoln's The Railway Inn secures a place in National Pub Awards Final

The Railway Inn was nominated by, Sue Clarke, in the Community Fundraising Hero category and has seen competition from almost 1000 other pubs nationwide.

This Community Fundraising Hero Award recognises pubs who support charities and other good causes through fundraising. This is not just judged on the amount of money raised, but on how it was done.

Two other pubs, The Black Bull Inn and The Half Moon Inn Thorpe on the Hill, East Holton and Willingham by Stow, Gainsborough respectively have also been shortlisted.

The pub was shortlisted because it stands as a small, but highly impactful, pub in a village. Through monthly quizzes, it’s raised over £6,000, for a variety of local and national charities. The pub’s annual memorial event raises funds for the local Ambucopter, and generous donations have supported various charities. This year they have set themselves a target of £1500 for MacMillan Cancer.

Sue Clarke, from The Railway Inn, said: "Wow, we are absolutely thrilled to have been shortlisted for this award. The recognition goes to all our amazing customers that support every fundraising event we hold, we couldn't do it without them. We have raised over £8,000 in the last 30 months - thank you to each and everyone of you".

The winners will be announced at an award ceremony, sponsored by Matthew Clark, at the Houses of Parliament on 5 March and all shortlisted pubs are invited to attend along with industry leaders and MPs.

Des O’Flanagan, co-founder of PubAid, added: “We launched these awards to celebrate the great work that pubs do for their community. The Railway Inn is a perfect example of how pubs support and are a hub for many people in their community. The awards are in their fifth year and the volume of entries this year was staggering. What clearly came across from reading all the entries is that there are so many publicans that are doing amazing work nationwide. It was very hard to get to a shortlist so even getting to the finals is an amazing accolade for The Railway Inn.”

PubAid, which organises the awards in association with Matthew Clark and the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, has refreshed the awards and created more categories to congratulate more community pubs throughout the UK. There are 33 finalists in total across five categories.