Ping pies 'on way out in rural pubs'
The editor of the new Alastair Sawday's Pubs & Inns guide 2009 claims "days are numbered for the microwaved steak & kidney pie" in country pubs.
David Hancock said: "For those running country pubs the key is, increasingly, the provision of good food; and with spiralling interest in a healthier lifestyle, we have come to expect food that is fresh and home-cooked."
Hancock was commenting in the new edition of Alastair Sawday's Pubs & Inns of England & Wales guide 2009.
He added that successful pubs continue to thrive because "their operators are hands-on, aim for consistently high standards and believe in value for money."
Hancock said the village local has to work harder to ensure its position as the centre of the community: "Licensees are having to appeal to new as well as existing customers, and take heed of changing needs.
"More pubs are doubling as shop and post office; others are making time and space for farm shops and farmers' markets, parish meetings, art exhibitions, cinema clubs, theatre performances, supper clubs and village fêtes." He noted the comeback of the ancient practice of bartering for produce.
The top pubs have been announced in the guide's awards. Winners of the local, seasonal & organic produce award are the Thomas Lord, West Meon, Hampshire; Brown Horse Inn, Winster, Cumbria; and the Royal Oak, Bishopstone, Wiltshire.
Authentic pub award-winners are the Bell Inn, Aldworth, Berkshire; the Harp, Old Radnor, Powys; and the Tobie Norris, Stamford, Lincolnshire.
The top three pubs with rooms are the Crown, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk; the Farmer's Inn, West Hatch, Somerset; and Turtley Corn Mill, Avonwick, Devon.
Winning the community pub award are the George, Alstonefield, Staffs; the Gaggle of Geese, Buckland Newton, Dorset; and the Black Swan, Ravenstonedale, Cumbria.
