Protz: Spot the difference in Old Ric

Ric Sainty looks like an Old Testament prophet, with his prodigious white beard and rubicund face.

He doesn't save sinners — but he did turn a "smelly and dirty pub that served more cider than beer" into a busy and successful one that now proudly proclaims the title of National Pub of the Year in the annual competition staged by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra).

The pub in question is the Old Spot, in Dursley, Gloucestershire. It's one of those magical places where, as you walk through the door, you know it's the sort of pub you would love to have as your local.

It has beams, open log fires, flagstone floors, old enamel brewery signs on ceilings and walls — and a plethora of ornamental pigs on every available shelf and cubby-hole, for the pub is named in honour of Gloucestershire's famous Old Spot breed.

It has a warren of small, comfortable rooms. The pub was fashioned out of a farm worker's cottage that dates from 1776 and which, since Sainty took over, has been extended into a school that stood next door.

Sainty is a former town planner from Cambridge. He swapped the flatlands for the Cotswolds and, with his wife, Ellie, ran the New Inn at Waterley Bottom, in Gloucestershire, before accepting the challenge in 1993 of resurrecting a failed Whitbread pub called the Fox & Hounds in Dursley.

It quickly became the Old Spot and Sainty joined forces with Chas Wright, founder of the Uley Brewery a couple of miles away, to sell Uley beers, including a house beer called Old Ric.

"It's the only known example of a beer being brewed for a living publican," Sainty says.

"We've sold thousands of cask beers over the past 15 years," he adds. "And we have beer festivals four times a year."

Now in his 70s, he is officially retired, though he still owns the pub. He lives just 200 yards away and is ever-present on the customer's side of the bar.

The Old Spot is now run by Steve and Belinda Herbert, who have built on Sainty's success. It's Steve's third pub, while Belinda has brought her culinary skills from other sectors of the leisure industry.

Steve, frantically busy behind the pub as locals and visitors to the Cotswold Way scenic walks packed the pub, found time to stress how a belief in traditional beer and traditional values has been tweaked to make the Old Spot a pub for the 21st century.

"We've let cider back in, but this is essentially an ale-house. Eighty-four per cent of our sales are ale, of which real ale accounts for 76%," he says.

"The smoking ban has had no impact on sales. We installed a heated garden — but we did that before the ban came in."

Big change​

The big change at the Old Spot is that food is now available until 9pm — in Sainty's day, food was restricted to lunchtime. "But it's still a pub," he insists, "A pub for beer drinkers."

Steve points out that food is served in designated areas and there are no menus or salt and pepper pots on tables — customers have to ask for food. And they get excellent tucker, as I can confirm. But don't ask for chips, as they are never served.

"The food complements the beer," Steve says. "We take customers on a journey of discovery."

Gloucestershire has had a remarkably successful year.

As well as the Old Spot winning the national Camra pub award, Wickwar Brewery won Champion Winter Beer of Britain with its Station Porter in January, while Severn Vale Brewery at Cam, just a short distance from Dursley, won the title of Supreme Champion with its Severn Sins beer in the competition run by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) in March.

Owner Steve McDonald has brewed a new beer called Session, on sale at the Old Spot, which at 3.4% abv is an ideal lunchtime pint.

Steve Herbert has been bowled over by the Camra award. "It's had a phenomenal impact," he says. "People going on holiday now make detours to visit the pub. And it's been a big motivation for everyone who works at the Old Spot."

As for Sainty, "retirement" takes on a new meaning with him. The following day he was off to attend the Cambridge Beer Festival.

But, he insisted, he'd be back the day after to make sure the 4.5% abv Old Ric was in good fighting form.