A CLASSIC English country pub near Salisbury has been crowned south Wiltshire Rural Pub of the Year by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

The Horseshoe Inn, found in the Chalke Valley village of Ebbesbourne Wake, has been run by Tony and Pat Bath since 1986.

The pair were joined by their daughter Jayne Sanger as they were presented with their Pub of the Year certificate.

The pub also received the coveted Derek Blackshaw Trophy for having won Rural Pub of the Year, founded in 2023 in memory of the late Derek Blackshaw, a former branch chairman who was a champion of country pubs.

83-year-old Tony, who said he has no plans on retiring, said: “I am very pleased to be Pub of the Year; it is very kind of everybody who voted for us.

“We are an old-fashioned pub, a rural pub and we provide good food and real ale out of a barrel, not out of a pump. We also have wonderful staff.”

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In an age when some pub landlords seem to come and go almost before they have had time to take their coats off, the Bath family has an astonishing record of continuity.

Tony’s parents, Tom and Glad, took over The Horseshoe in 1971 and 15 years later passed the reins to their son, a former Royal Air Force bandsman, and his wife Pat.

They have now been joined by their daughter Jayne Sanger, who does much of the work in the kitchen.

Tony is passionate about real ales, sourcing his beers from breweries in Dorset and Devon, and the food is home-cooked.

“We try to keep it as a traditional old pub with a twist to it, the twist being food,” he said.

Chris White, local CAMRA chairman, Pat and Tony Bath, their daughter Jayne Sanger,
Keith Foster, local CAMRA Pub of the Year co-ordinator Picture: Salisbury CAMRA

“We have no television, no fruit machines and no music.”

A superb collection of horse brasses, agricultural tools and other memorabilia lines the walls.

The history of the building, parts of which go back to the 13th century, is shrouded in mystery.

It may well have been a staging post for horses as travellers made their way along the valley between Salisbury and Shaftesbury and was certainly a cottage.

It probably became a pub about 150 years ago, which means that the Bath family has been behind the bar for more than one-third of that time

Keith Foster, the Pub of the Year competition co-ordinator for the Salisbury area, said: “The Horseshoe Inn is a quintessential rural pub at the heart of its village community.

“There is a warm and friendly welcome to all and a wonderful choice of well-kept real ales fresh from the barrel.

“All can be enjoyed in a cosy setting surrounded by an extensive display of farming memorabilia.”