STAFF at a Cricklade pub have plenty to smile about after picking up a string of awards over the past year.

The Red Lion in Cricklade came 42nd in the Budweiser Budvar Top 50 Gastropub Awards last month, which is a leading event for the premium end of the UK food-led pub trade.

As well as receiving recognition in the awards, in the last twelve months, the pub has been named Best British Freehouse and British Pub of the Year in the BT Sport Awards, plus CAMRA Pub of the Year for North Wiltshire.

Red Lion landlord, Tom Gee, said: “We believe we have created the quintessential British pub. We have created the right pub and the right atmosphere.

“We have the food offer right and the quality is fantastic. It has been an amazing 12 months – now all of this good work has paid off.”

Tom went on to explain that part of the reason the food at the pub is so successful is that he sources vegetables from Jubilee Gardens, a Purton Stoke based school for people with mental and physical disabilities, whose students sell and grow produce exactly to the pubs specification.

Judges in the Gastropub Awards are made up of food writers and experts who are based in every region of the UK.