West Berkshire CAMRA Pub of the Year 2011.

Winners - The Swan, Inkpen.

The West Berkshire branch of CAMRA has chosen its Pub of the Year for 2011.

The pub is The Swan, Inkpen.

The West Berkshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has chosen the Swan Inn, Inkpen, as its Pub of the Year for 2011. The 17th century village inn, owned by organic beef farmers Mary and Bernard Harris, has a long association with Butts brewery, the organic brewery based near Great Shefford. In response to the award, Bernard said ‘This is good news. We are all delighted. We rely on customers travelling some distance to visit us so this award is especially welcome.’ Inkpen is a scattered community of some 300 houses including holiday homes and weekend cottages. The Swan Inn is situated in the Lower Green part of the village. It lies about
a mile north of Combe Gibbet on Gallows Down, the subject of John Schlesinger’s first
film ‘The Black Legend’ (1948).

Bernard and Mary had been running their organic beef farm in Inkpen for 15 years when the Swan closed down in 1995. Bernard described himself as the best customer of the pub at the time. Bernard and Mary were also longstanding members of CAMRA so when fellow members suggested that they should buy the Swan, they took the plunge on the basis that it could also become an outlet for their beef and be extended to include an organic shop and 10 en-suite bedrooms. The bar would be expanded with a separate darts and games room. In April 1996, the Swan Inn reopened with Chris Butt as a licensee, complementing his role as brewery owner with a guaranteed outlet. With Chris and Delia running the pub initially, the Harrises could supervise the extensive renovation and new building work that was eventually granted planning permission and took a couple of years to complete. Although Chris Butt went back to full time brewery work, the original association, which saw spent grains from his brewery feeding their cattle, continued in the other direction with Butts organic beers: Jester, Traditional and Blackguard Porter being
served at the Swan. Guest beers like Hooky Dark may also be available.

The staff at the Swan now have an international flavour with Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic and South Africa allrepresented. These influences are reflected in the menu. In the photograph below, from the left are Vincenzo (head chef), Zuzanna, Tom (bar manager), Nadine, Mary and Bernard.

Adrian Bean, West Berkshire CAMRA chairman, said ‘The Swan Inn now goes into the Berkshire county round of the contest with the Jack O'Newbury, Binfield; the Nag's Head, Reading and the White Horse, Hedgerley. We wish Bernard and Mary luck in this round and hope they will win through to the next stage, as did the Bell Inn, Aldworth, last year’s local winner.’

West Berkshire CAMRA will be presenting the 2011 Pub of the Year award to The Swan, Inpen on Wednesday the 18th of May. The presentation will begin at 20:00hrs. All are welcome to celebrate with the pub on their award.

This story originally appeared as the lead story in the May/June edition of Ullage - Thanks to Editor Tim Thomas for the words. To read the latest and back issues of Ullage please click here.

The above story appeared in the Newbury Weekly News dated 02/06/11

The picture shows Mary and Bernard Harris surrounded by members of West Berkshire CAMRA