THE thriving real ale scene across the borough was underlined when a series of the town's top pubs were honoured at an annual awards night.

The St Helens Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) awards took place last Friday (May 22) at The Cricketers Arms, on Peter Street.

The venue was packed to see pubs awarded the Pub of Excellence title.

Major town centre pubs the Market Tavern and the Sefton Arms were joined by small town centre bar The Newsroom, which has gone from having no real ale to three in just over a year.

Community pubs like the Star Inn Rainford and the Brown Edge in Nutgrove were also recognised along with specialist beer pubs The Turks Head and The Phoenix Inn.

And the Cricketers, which picked up St Helens CAMRA's Pub of the Year title for the second year running was given an award.

St Helens CAMRA branch chairman Alan Healey said: “Our town is full of great pubs. We have honoured eight of them but in reality there are many more.

"We are very lucky to have such brilliant pubs and three local breweries to supply them.”