Northern Bridge League
The Northern Bridge League is a teams-of-eight competition between county bridge associations, mostly in the north of England. Regular participants in recent years have been Cumbria, Lancashire, LIncolnshire, Manchester, Merseyside & Cheshire, Westmorland and Yorkshire. In some years, teams from Scotland, north Wales and other English counties have also taken part. There are three divisions: A, B and C, with the C division intended for players of ‘good club standard’ and B and A for each county’s strongest players.
Since the pandemic, the competition has been played online using RealBridge. There are four match days, usually Saturdays in the summer and early autumn months. On each match day there is a round robin of matches in each division, and the scores are aggregated to give an overall winner of each division for the season as a whole.
Spectators can follow the progress of the Yorkshire teams and their favourite players using the RealBridge KIbitz function with a 20 minutes delay.
The NBL has its own website and results pages, which can be accessed using the links on the right.
The 2026 season of the Northern Bridge League
The match days in 2026 will be Saturdays 11th July, 15th August, 12th September and 17th October. We will post here a short report on the outcome of all of these matches.
Round 1 – Slow start for Yorkshire teams in 2026 NBL
The first round of matches in the 2026 Northern Bridge League were played on Saturday 11th July. All three Yorkshire teams made disappointing starts. In the A division Yorkshire A finished fourth with 37 points from four matches, in the B division we were sixth with 32 from five, and in the C division also fourth with 35 from four. Merseyside & Cheshire lead the A division. and Manchester teams top the B and C divisions.
TheYorkshire teams were:
A – Tom Copeland & Alan Jarvis, Geoff Kenyon & Nick Woolven, Paul Brereton & Frank Dixon, and Alan Brosgill & Robin Jepson.
B – Chris Child & Terry Read, Lesley Bridson & Catherine Thompson, David Beresford & Ian Guy, and Steve Blackburn & Gill Copeland.
C – Bob Marchbank & Kevin Higgins, Pauline Cooper & Richard Hiilton, Carol Heron & Ian Johnson, and Lesley Millet & Ron Millet.
In the cross-imps tables five pairs had plus scores – Tom & Alan, Geoff & Nick, Chris & Terry, Bob & Kevin and Pauline & Richard.
With three more rounds of matches to be played before the NBL concludes in October, there is time for the ground already lost to be made up.
Round 2 – Big wins for Yorks teams
The second round of matches in the 2026 Northern Bridge League were played online, on RealBridge, on Saturday 15th August.
After a disappointing round 1 last month, a strengthened Yorkshire A team began round 2 by taking 18, 10 and 18 points from their first three matches. Going into the final match against league leaders Scotland, they had a lead of two points on the day. Yorkshire dominated the match, emerging with a win by 19-1.
As a result, Yorkshire A have leapt into first place in the A division table with a lead of 14 points over Scotland.
Yorkshire B also were victorious in the round 2 series of matches in the B division, finishing on 66 points, four ahead of Manchester. Yorkshire B have risen to fourth in the cumulative table, but are still 38 points behind the leaders, Manchester.
Yorkshire C were second in the round 2 series in the C division, with 57 points, eight adrift of Lancashire. This lifts Yorkshire to second in the cumulative table whey they are now 15 points behind Lancashire.
There are two more rounds of matches in the 2026 NBL which will be played on 12th September and 17th October.
The Yorkshire teams were:
A – Daniel Winter & Oscar Selby, Frank Dixon & Paul Brereton, Dave Robinson & Tony McNiff, and Geoff Kenyon & Richard Winter
All four pairs put in strong performances and, remarkably, were first, second, fourth and sixth in the cross-imps table.
B – Daryl Kayes & Chris Boyes, Ian Johns & David Waxman, Nichola Cockerill-Smith & Richard Pike, and Christine Child & Terry Read.
All four pairs had plus scores in the cross-imps with Daryl & Chris third in the table, Ian & David fourth, and Nichola & Richard fifth.
C – Paul Below & Bernard Burns, Christina Powne & Tish Hopkins, Robert Cave & Mike Hopkins, and Mark Ballantine & John Mewies.
Paul & Bernard were second in the cross-imps table, and Christina & Tish and Robert & Mike also had plus scores.
Further information about this round of matches can be found on the Cumbria CBA and NBL websites.
This page was last updated on 16th August 2026.
