John Young Memorial Award 2024

Annually the London CAMRA branches decide on the winner of the John Young Memorial Award. This year, the award went to Paddy Johnson of Windsor & Eton Brewery.

John Young was a truly iconic figure in the London and national brewing scene. It was he who kept Young's brewing cask beer when others all around him were converting to keg. Chairman of the brewery from 1962, he died in 2006 in the same week that Young's beers were brewed at Wandsworth for the last time.

The following year, CAMRA’s London branches decided to instigate an award in his honour. The objective is to publicly acknowledge an individual or organisation, external to CAMRA that the London branches believe has done the most for real ale and/or pubs within the Greater London area.

This year, the award went to Paddy Johnson. After many years in the beer industry he was one of the four founders of Windsor & Eton Brewery and, in 2010, along with colleague Will Calvert, and Bob and Jim Morrison, they were founder members of the London Brewers Alliance.

The London Brewers Alliance now has a membership of over 80 breweries in the London area. Our objectives, among other things, are to promote brewing and encourage cooperation between breweries. It is for this and his commitment to quality beer that the London branches thought he was a worthy winner.

On Sunday 3rd November, the award was presented at the Windsor and Eton Brewery Tap Room where Torquil Young, John Young’s nephew, made the presentation. Paddy is not the first LBA member to have won the Award and Paddy was joined by three past winners, John Keeling (ex Fuller’s), Derek Prentice (Wimbledon) and Roger Molyneux of the Harp in Carlshalton.