A husband and wife team that gave up their high-paying city jobs to run a country pub have been rewarded with the title of the UK’s National Pub of the Year.
Less than two years after pulling their first pint, Peter Tiley [pictured below] and his wife Claire of The Salutation Inn have taken out the top honour at the Campaign for Real Ales’s (CAMRA) prestigious competition.
Tiley told The Independent he spend most of the first year “sleeping and have nightmares” due to worry he would “ruin” the pub.
But after just eight months after quitting his job in the capital and taking over “The Sally”, the pub was crowned the best in the sleepy village of Ham, then later the best in the region.
CAMRA judged the national comp, which is based on criteria including atmosphere, customer service, value for money, and community. The better drinks ambassador also gives extra weighting to the quality of beers and ciders, and described The Sally’s beer selection as “excellent”.
One judge also paid homage to the pub’s welcoming feel, offering that was stuck them the most was the welcome, “as if I was being invited into a private house as a friend”.
“What Peter and Claire have done in the short time they have been running the pub is nothing short of staggering and goes to show that passion, enthusiasm, and a real love of beer are hugely important when running a pub,” said CAMRA director, Abigail Newton.
“They have hit the ground running and taken what was already a great pub and made it truly exceptional – beating off over 50,000 other landlords from across the UK,” she said.
The UK has seen more than 3,000 pubs close since 2010, and the Pub of the Year competition encourages innovation and re-invention in a time when stagnancy is proving fatal.
