We visited a boozer near Newport where the landlady uses quality food and drink to make a destination pub for all

Some go down the route of being a simple drinkers pub, selling a large range of drinks and very little food, apart from bar snacks, while other pubs go down the gastronomic route and prioritise food over drink.

In some cases, there are pubs that work to be everything to everyone and provide an experience that makes people want to come back again and again.

The Red Lion at Great Chatwell is a pub which the landlady Sharon Fowels said she wanted to be a destination pub and somewhere that she could attract in people from across the region.

Located on the border between Shropshire and Staffordshire, the pub sits in a small hamlet deep in the countryside and has been part of the community since the 17th century, with reports showing brewing taking place at the end of the 18th century.

Having previously been run by Marstons, it was purchased by locals Kevin and Rachel Shaw in 2023 and reopened as a free house in April that year under the stewardship of Ms Fowels, who said she had been in the pub trade for years and was looking to leave it until she got a call from the Shaws.

She said: "They lived in the village and bought it privately to run as a freehouse, which saved it as there were people looking to redevelop it, but they wanted to keep their local pub.

"I'm good friends with them and I was working at another pub and thinking of giving it up as I needed my knee doing, but they rang me and asked me to come and have a look at the pub and it just went from there.

"It's my business and I rent the pub from them, after they spent a lot of money refurbishing it, and I've been here two years and absolutely love it as the locals have been really supportive."

Ms Fowels said the countryside view was one thing which made the pub special for her, as was the food that she and her two chefs produced on a daily basis, with her Sunday roasts filling the pub each week.

She said: "We have a restaurant menu and a bar menu, with the restaurant menu consisting of starters such as soup of the day and King Prawns on dry toast, while the main menu has things like steaks, curries, Hunters Chicken and mixed grills and all of our meat is sourced from Buttercross, which is really spot on.

"We also have a bar menu consisting of sandwiches, baguettes and jacket potatoes and everyday bar food, such as chilli nachos, scampi, burgers and a selection of meals for the little ones, plus a really good vegetarian selection.

"I love the Sundays as the atmosphere is brilliant and we're always full, plus I do a different gravy with each meat and there's just something special about the day."

Being a freehold means more freedom with the drinks and the Red Lion has a wide selection, including 12 keg lines and seven cask ales, coming from breweries such as Ludlow Brewery, Wye Valley and Hobson's.

There's also a selection of more unique drinks on tap, including Korev Lager and Cornish Rattler cider, plus bitters such as Boddingtons and Camden Pale, Guinness and a wide and varied selection of spirits and wines.

Ms Fowels said the Red Lion was likely to be the last pub she would ever run and she said she couldn't imagine running a better pub than this one.

She said: "It's my livelihood and I've got a real passion for the place and want it to do well, so I'm kind of determined to make it do well.

"It's an amazing place to be, walking out of the door in the morning and seeing the beautiful scenery and having such a great team.

"I want people to leave here and want to come back. As I said, it's a destination pub, so getting people is the key as once they come, they'll want to come back."