Newcomers win pub of the year accolade

The only experience Rob Burns ever had when it came to pubs was drinking in them.

But the 50-year-old didn't let a small detail like that stop him from taking over his local in South Staffordshire.

He and his family bought The Swan Hotel in Brewood last November, and were today celebrating it being named Pub of the Year by the Wolverhampton branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

Delighted Rob, who had spent his entire 33-year working life toiling in the car industry, most recently as a production manager at the Lamforder factory in Darlaston, said: "I'd been working in factories since I was 16 and I was starting to think if I ever wanted to do something differently it would have to be before I was 50, so I took redundancy last April but I never thought I'd end up running a pub."

But during a chance conversation with then owner Alan Goode last autumn he found out The Swan - his local watering hole - was for sale.

Mr Burns talked it over with his family - wife Stephanie, son Jack, 18, and daughter Emily 16 - and bought it.

He said: "It was a big move and I suppose a big risk with the economy still not recovered, and there's no denying it was a baptism of fire to start with, but we've all loved every minute of it.

Stephanie added: "It was such hard work to start with. We were putting in 18-hour days just trying to hit the ground running."

The family, who lived just a few streets away in Orams Lane, moved into the pub, with Jack and Emily both helping out part time in between college and school.

Bob Jones, national campaign director with Wolverhampton Camra, said: "It's a lovely pub with an ever rotating selection of local and unusual ales. It's a worthy winner of our Pub of the Year."