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Prize pub is Spot on

by Sue Painter

FOR RIC and Ellie Sainty the secret of a good pub is not what you put in - it's what you take out.

Piped music does not drone away in the background, chalk boards bearing extensive menus in gaudy pastels are nowhere to be found and the nearest thing to a pulsating gaming machine is a 1927 bar billiards table.

The only concessions to entertainment are on Wednesday evenings when local musicians team up for impromptu folk blues sessions or the odd cricket or rugby match on the television.

The Old Spot Inn at Dursley has just been named by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) as Gloucestershire's pub of the year.

Ric is presently in hospital recovering from a heart bypass operation. But it is hoped he will be back at the pub on Thursday when the Gloucestershire branch of CAMRA presents the pub with its award.

Traditional

The traditional British pub faces an ever more uncertain future with a new generation of brash theme bars, pseudo restaurants and cavernous pubs more like nightclubs with thumping music.

Beer, too, faces competition from bottled lager and the phenomenal growth of alcopops. The brewers' response has been to move away from traditional ale to nitro-keg beers, frowned on by CAMRA.

Spokesman Alan Stephens said among the things judges were looking for were quality and range of real ale and traditional cider, support for CAMRA, value for money and cleanliness.

"You have got to be realistic and you have to have pubs for all tastes but we do support the traditional English pub where you can go and have a chat and where the landlord speaks to you."

Today the Old Spot is a far cry from the run-down hostelry, then known as the Fox and Hounds, which Ric and Ellie took over in 1993.

The couple, who when they moved in did not take �250 on a Saturday night for six weeks, spent two years gradually transforming the pub.

Ric (63), who has been a licensee for around 20 years after giving up his career as a town planner, brought in much of his experience from his previous job to create the Old Spot.

Today it is a thriving honey-pot which attracts a broad selection of customers.

Those who came into the Old Spot soon after Ellie and Ric had taken over said the couple were mad not to have music. But they stuck to their guns.

Ellie said: "You go into any pub now and quite often there is music playing - sometimes too loud - and you have no choice about what you are hearing.

"There is nothing better than the camaraderie of having a pint with friends and customers. We always get a good mix of people in from doctors to dustmen, students and couples.

Brewery

"We are on the Cotswold Way and when the holiday-makers come in it isn't long before they are chatting to somebody. We don't have any fruit machines because they are anti-social."

Ric and Ellie serve six real ales, with pints of Old Spot and Old Ric - named after the landlord = made by a nearby brewery always available. But the "fashionable" beers drunk out of the bottle do not feature and there is only one line in alcopop.

"Ric is very much a real ale man. We serve 100 guest ales a year," said Ellie. "There are very few places where you can go and just enjoy the quality of the beer. People come to us for that."

Food there is a far cry from the menus to be found elsewhere. The lunchtime choice features door-step sandwiches, a platter of fine British cheeses and Old Ric sausages - made with Old Ric beer.

"At most pubs you walk in and you know pretty much what you are going to get," said Ellie. "There are gaudy chalk boards everywhere and two-for-one deals. A lot of people don't want to have menus stuffed under their noses as soon as they walk in."

Ric and Ellie's other personal touches can be seen in the welcome for well-behaved dogs, the well-used non-smoking room, chess, cards and dominoes provided for customers and the hand-picked staff who know all the regulars by name.

[Citizen Pubwatch]

Reproduced courtesy of Citizen - May 1997.