Double success in sight

PUB SERVING 'RENOVNED PARMOS' SET FOR BRITISH PUB AWARD

- By ANETTE BELCHER

A BILLINGHAM pub is in line for double award success.

The Merlin is one of six local boozers to be selected from 2,400 around the country to receive a prestigious Recognition Award from Heineken-owned Star Pubs - and its the only one in the North East to make the cut. The award recognises the contribution the Marsh House Avenue venue makes to the local community.

And The Merlin has also been shortlisted as a finalist for a Star Award in the industry-wide Great British Pub Awards with the winner announced at a ceremony in Leeds in September.

The Merlin publicans, Paul and Sara Cuthbert, were presented with their Recognition Award by Star Pubs business development manager, Matt Simpson. The couple, who are long-term Billingham residents having lived in the town for 29 and 40 years respectively, took on the lease for The Merlin at the worst of times, in September 2020 between the two lockdowns.

They had previously been running it on behalf of another publican.