The Nightingale guest editors on guest ales

Lee and Keris De Villiers have been so successful at the Nightingale because they listen to what their customers want and are quick to move with the times.

The pub has comment cards on which customers are invited to make suggestions. Something that kept coming up was a desire for local beers.

Until last year, the pub had been able to stock just four guest ales a year from a recommended list from its pub company, Young's. But after the Nightingale won The Publican's Community Pub of the Year 2009, Lee and Keris were keen to stock The Publican's charity beer Proud of Pubs Summer Ale to celebrate. With the help of their area manager Mick Newton, the couple were able to persuade Young's to let them try some new guest ales in their pubs, including some from local Battersea-based brewer Sambrook's.

"The Nightingale is very much a cask ale pub with Young's at its heart," says Mick. "Its best-selling beer has always been Young's Bitter but over recent years with demand for real ales increasing, Lee and Keris introduced a range of rotating seasonal ales.

"Always on the look-out to support local businesses, Lee and Keris initiated a very successful trial earlier this year of Sambrook's Wandle Ale. It has proved a wonderful complement to the Young's beers."

The couple are now able to choose guest ales with the help of Young's marketing department. The Nightingale has also just held its first beer festival as part of Young's first Cask Ale Festival which ran in over 100 Young's pubs and included beers such as Rudgate's Ruby Mild and Bath Ales Gem.

"Selling something local to us gives us such a talking point with customers and creates business," says Keris, adding the other benefit is that people who had previously not ventured into the pub have developed a taste for Young's beers too.

Mick Newton: 'The Nightingale is very much a cask ale pub'