The Nottingham area is well served for pubs called the White Lion, something which would cause more confusion if the locals didn't adopt the entirely sensible habit of giving them all different names.
So, if you ask for directions to the White Lion at Bramcote, you could well be met with blank looks. And when the high-street butcher in nearby Beeston starts offering 'top house sausages' for barbecues this summer, flavoured with Abbot Ale, no-one should be under any doubts that these are the same popular bangers sold at the pub.
"There are two other White Lions nearby, but this one as been known as the 'top house' for as long as anyone can remember," says licensee Ivan Greensmith.
Having worked as a pub manager in the area for many years, Ivan was tempted back into the trade after a short break, when the tenancy of the pub became vacant just over two years ago. Ivan had worked at the White Lion as a relief manager under previous owner Hardys & Hanson's - the pub became part of the Greene King estate when it acquired the Hardys business in 2006.
"I jumped at the chance," says Ivan. "I love the area - we have a house nearby - and I'd always wanted to run this pub."
Although the 250-year-old, Grade II-listed pub only has a small kitchen and no scope for expansion, Ivan recognised that there was scope to boost food trade. "It's an a upmarket area and there's a lot of interest in local produce," he says. Fruit and veg is now sourced from the farm shop 400 yards away, and meat from the aforementioned butchers in Beeston.
The pub's chef, Phil Dexter, had worked with Ivan at a previous pub. "When I took over the pub, he phoned and asked if I needed a head chef," says Ivan. "I had to explain that he'd be the whole kitchen team."
Even so, Phil jumped at the chance. The pub has a busy lunchtime and weekend trade, and canny regulars also book to ensure seats for the pub's twice-weekly quiz. "One bloke will come in early for steak and chips to save the table for the rest of his team."
Wet sales remain the driver of the business, with the pub offering five cask ales.
Phil has added food trade through a reputation for interesting specials - which have included ostrich and kangaroo - and at the start of this year, he and Ivan decided that a bespoke sausage for the pub would be good move. "We spoke to our butchers, and initially we tried a pork and cider recipe, but that didn't work out," says Phil
At Meat 4U in Beeston, butchers Nick Henshaw and Matt Whittel refused to be downhearted. "The cider recipe was too sweet," says Nick, "so we decided to work with beer instead." A litre of Abbot Ale from the end of each barrel is added to a mix of pork, along with sage from the White Lion garden.
"We make sausages almost every day and have a number if recipes, so when the pub needs some more they can be ready in half an hour," says Ivan. "They've proven so popular at the pub, with Ivan's agreement we're going to sell them in our barbecue packs this summer as 'top house sausages'."
The Abbot Ale sausages are served with mash and peas in a giant Yorkshire pudding at £6.95. "To be honest, we haven't promoted them too much so far," says Ivan, "because the kitchen is operating to capacity anyway. But we'll make more of the sausages on the next menu."