St Helens CAMRA present posthumous award for ex-Sefton landlord

Matty Williams, who died earlier this year following a cancer battle, was at the helm at the Sefton pub for 22 years during which it became a popular venue in the town centre's drinking scene.

Matty was also an organiser of the Westfield Street Music Festival, which brought a jamboree of live music to St Helens town centre venues in recent years and was a chairman of the St Helens Pub Watch scheme.

The Sefton became a regular in the Good Beer Guide during Matty’s tenure.

The Sefton pub (Image: Stock)

Matty sadly died on May 3 this year, aged 53 after a brave battle with bowel cancer, following a diagnosis in September 2022.

Those Matty left behind included wife Nicole and three sons.

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The St Helens and District CAMRA branch were due to present Matty with a special ‘long service’ award acknowledging his achievements at the Baldwin Street pub, but unfortunately did not manage to before his passing.

Matty Williams was manager at the Sefton for more than 20 years (Image: Submitted)

Members of Matty’s family attended the Sefton on Wednesday evening to receive it on his behalf.

At the presentation, Ian Pye, pubs officer for St Helens and District CAMRA branch, spoke of how Matty took the Sefton from “strength to strength”.

Among those who attended the presentation were Matty's wife Nicole, three sons Matthew, Jax and Luca, and Matty's mum, dad and brother Adam.

Ian said: “This award recognises 20 years of service to the Sefton which is some doing because there’s not many people I know that manage to say they’ve done that.

“He really did bring the Sefton from strength to strength. He got it into the Good Beer Guide many times, he got it shortlisted for Pub of the Year, which is a massive achievement, because at the time he managed to get the pub into the shortlist last time there were over 80 real ale pubs in our branch so that says an awful lot."

Ian Pye presents the award to members of Matty's family (Image: St Helens CAMRA)

Ian added: “It’s a consistently well-performing pub with our members. Matty knew he was getting this award but unfortunately, we didn’t have chance to present it to him but I would like to present it to you both on his behalf.”