Popular Edinburgh pub that led ‘Save the Pride Bridge’ campaign wins prestigious national award

Edinburgh pub wins at the PubAid Community Pub Hero Awards 2024

Staff and customers at a popular Edinburgh pub are celebrating after the venue won a prestigious national award.

The Dreadnought, on North Fort Street in Leith, beat off competition from over 1,000 entries to be named as the best Community Regular Hero pub in Scotland at the PubAid Community Pub Hero Awards 2024

The LGBT-friendly Leith watering hole won after it led the Save the Pride Bridge campaign to help protect the local landmark from being demolished. The community effort came about after the 85-year old structure was deemed an ‘immediate health and safety risk’ by council officers.

The Dreadnought, on North Fort Street in Edinburgh, has been crowned as the best Community Regular Hero pub in Scotland.

Roisin Therese, co-owner of The Dreadnought, was at the ceremony in the Houses of Commons to accept the award, which celebrates the work that pubs do to fundraise or support the community.

Speaking after picking up the award, Roisin said: “I am very pleased to accept this award in recognition of the work we have done through The Dreadnought and the Save The Pride Bridge campaign to promote queer visibility and representation.

“Despite the many challenges of running a pub during the last few years, we hope to continue to provide a community hub and to support local causes through our fundraising, food bank and winter clothes collection drives, and engagement with other local organisations. We will continue to provide a safe and inclusive space that celebrates the queer community.”

Des O’Flanagan, co-founder of PubAid, added: “The annual event is always very special for us and all the pubs who made it through to the finals.

“It is wonderful to hear so many stories of publicans who do so much for their local communities and it’s heart-warming that pubs raise so much money for local and national charities and their regular customers are so generous when the cost of living makes things tough for many people.

“All 1,000 nominations we received are worthy of a congratulations but a special mention needs to be for those who made it through to the finals. The standard or entry this year has been so high that it gave our expert judges some difficult decisions.”