North: Eskdale Inn

Castleton, North Yorkshire Gavin Mead spent 37 years driving coaches before settling on a new career pulling pints at the Eskdale Inn at Castleton, deep in the rolling North Yorkshire moors countryside.

But just 18 months on as a licensee, Gavin and his partner, Linda Clelland, are driving down an early road to success after putting the rural village pub firmly on the local map.

Castleton is set deep in Heartbeat television country, where local relationships run strong and the accent is firmly on community ties.

So Gavin and Linda realised from the start that serving first-class beer and food would not be enough to guarantee success.

The launch of quizzes, music nights, themed celebrations and encouraging local pool and darts teams are just a handful of events that have helped mould the Eskdale as a community winner.

Castleton is one of a network of rural villages set in North Yorkshire, it is seven miles from Whitby on the coast and four miles from Guisborough, the nearest principal town.

The Eskdale is one of only a few in the area that keeps all-day opening hours and the only pub in Castleton that caters for all age groups.

Customers calling in for a quiet meal or drink mix quite happily with younger drinkers who may be members of the Eskdale's seven darts teams or its pool and cricket teams.

Gavin remarks: "Our customer base is a real mixed bag, but the different sorts of people we get coming in here actually contributes to the pub's appeal.

I think we are one of the few pubs in the area that can offer such a broad customer appeal."

Gavin has lived in the area all his life and while he had no licensed-trade experience before buying the pub, partner Linda, a trained chef, certainly knew the ropes.

The pub's food offering was quickly expanded and a comprehensive menu is now supplemented with specials devised from local produce, including seasonal game, salmon and meat sourced from suppliers in the neighbourhood.

Two permanent cask beers, Camerons Strongarm and Tetley Bitter, and a guest ale normally sourced from Camerons Brewery, have earned the pub a deserved entry in the latest Good Beer Guide.

Set in a picturesque location just yards from the river Esk, the pub's new outdoor facilities, letting bedrooms, and enthusiastic licensees have made it a firm favourite inside and outside the village.