Traditional Lakeland inn named authentic pub of the year

A COUPLE who bought their local pub have been rewarded for achieving their ambition of creating a traditional Lakeland inn in a snug corner of Cumbria.

Nigel and Kath Barton own The White Hart Inn, at Bouth, Ulverston, which was named Authentic Pub of the Year by the esteemed food critic Alastair Sawday.

The award will feature in the latest edition of the much-sought after Alastair Sawday’s Pubs and Inns of England and Wales, and should help boost trade at the already popular destination, which also offers bed and breakfast accommodation.

Mr Barton said: “It’s excellent. We are really pleased to have won this award and are happy to have been recognised. When we bought the pub 12 years ago, our aim was to a traditional Lakeland inn with good local food and a busy bar.”

A former painter and decorator, Mr Barton and his wife took on the local haunt in the village where he has lived all his life, and together they have built on its strong foundations, and pride themselves on serving locally sourced products, including meat from Airey’s at Ayside.

He said: “We have done quite a few extensions and added some new furniture. It has all the original beams and slate floors but we’ve tried to move it further on and make it modern, while keeping its traditional values.”

Alastair Sawday guides are seen by many as the bible for good food and drink in Britain, and one food critic for The Guardian, when describing his search for somewhere to eat and drink, wrote: "I need divine intervention, but reach for the next best thing: an Alastair Sawday guidebook.”

He writes regularly for The Daily Telegraph, The Observer, The Times and The Daily Mail, plus many magazines and has also appeared on TV and radio.

In the guide, The White Hart Inn is described as ‘a sleepy-snoozy village local, friendly too, where regulars cheerfully mingle with visitors over pints of Coniston and Hawkshead Bitter, decent wines and a delicious, no-nonsense menu’.

A Sawday’s guide spokesman described how it came to its decision: “We have visited scores of simple, authentic, unadulterated pubs and they are a diminishing breed. We award those that are particularly special.”

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