A pub has had a coveted Pub of the Year award stripped from it after it emerged it had Nazi memorabilia on display. The Hole in the Wall in Bodmin was named the best pub in the county by CAMRA Kernow, and its eccentric decor was originally cited as being partly why it won.
The walls of the pub are packed with curiosities, including a stuffed lion, ancient guns and a picture of Winston Churchill, among many other items. But the boozer is now under fire after a complaint was made about "a swastika armband" on display in the popular boozer.
CAMRA officials promptly stripped the Hole in the Wall of the award and now Steve has responded, saying the display was "taken out of context completely".
Landlord Steve Hall said: "This is really upsetting. I'm upset and annoyed about this and so are my staff. It has really tarnished my image when that piece of military memorabilia has been in the pub since it opened 80 years ago. There are a lot of curios in the pub. There's a lot of stuff on display."
"The item is no longer on display. I took the decision to remove it as soon as this complaint was shared with us. I'm not even sure that person who complained ever set foot in the pub. He must have seen it online."
Steve and his staff had been due to celebrate the award this weekend with members of the CAMRA Kernow team, but now the event hangs in the balance.
He said it was ironic that the title of Pub of the Year had now been removed from the Hole in the Wall as the pub won it twice before in the last 15 years - even though the offensive item had been on display the whole time.
He added: "It's been taken out of context completely by CAMRA at national level. It has nothing to do with CAMRA Kernow. Bodmin was a garrison town. These soldiers came back from the war with spoils of war memorabilia. It was not to hero-worship Hitler or the Nazis but to celebrate the victory over fascism and to remember their comrades who died fighting against evil. You can't whitewash history."
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The landlord, who has been behind the bar at the Hole in the Wall for 20 years and has employed more than 100 staff, said the Nazi armband, about four inches by one inch in size, had been in a glass cabinet on top of a pillar in a dimly lit part of the pub among all sorts of curios for decades and had been brought back from the front by a returning serviceman of the Duke of Cornwall's Regiment.
"It's not my memorabilia. It belongs to the pub. It's been here for longer than I have. If I had put it there myself, Camra's decision would be justified. But this has not been seen in context. It's sad for Bodmin. We have a lovely town with a lot of good stuff happening here. But it has gone through some dark times in the last year. To win Pub of the Year would have been a bit of good news, not just for us, but for the whole town."
The complaint which has led to the pub losing its title, came from Truro resident Colin Curless who emailed CornwallLive saying: "I have seen your article on the Hole in the Wall pub getting best in the county, what hypocrisy. Not just a stuffed lion on show. I actually spoke with the staff and they have a swastika armband on show in the pub. I have informed CAMRA as having a swastika armband on show in your pub is not a good advert for Cornwall, let alone a stuffed lion."
CAMRA Kernow said the decision to take away the title from the Hole in the Wall had been taken by the national organisation but added that while it would not be able to celebrate the title with Steve and his staff it would still hold a branch social on Saturday (March 30).
A spokesperson for CAMRA Kernow said: "CAMRA's National Campaigns and Communications Committee has taken the decision to withdraw the Cornwall Branch Pub of the Year award for 2024 to the Hole in the Wall. In the light of this, there will now be no Cornwall Pub of the Year Award made for 2024."
"This follows a complaint relating to an item on display. The item has now been removed by the pub owner, but it did contravene nationally agreed CAMRA policies."
"On this occasion, CAMRA volunteers did not spot the item at the point of judging. However, national policy states no pub or club should be considered for an award if it displays signs or objects that could be offensive to consumers due to their discriminatory nature."
