GREENE KING : PUB NAMED PUB OF THE YEAR

The Cott Inn in Dartington, near Totnes in Devon, won the prize at the glamorous awards ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Thursday 5 September.

The pub has a long history dating back to 1320 and for the past nine years has been run by husband and wife team Mark Annear and Mel Hard. Thanks to their dedication the pub has flourished and grown to a point where it has now been named the Great British Pub of the Year.

Speaking immediately after collecting the trophy, Mark said: 'It's fantastic recognition of all the hard work we've done at the pub in the last nine years.

'When we took it over it was closed down and we've done a few schemes with Greene King since we've been there and we've built it up organically in the last nine years and I've got a fantastic team. A lot of them have been there since the beginning and it's brilliant for the team and for the pub. It's great for the great British pub and it's a great local pub.'

The pub had also been named Greene King's Pub of the Year in a separate category earlier in the night, which meant it was put forward for consideration in the overall pub of the year category.

Greene King Pub Partners' managing director Wayne Shurvinton said: 'I'm just so pleased for Mark and Mel. It was an absolute joy to see the look on Mark's face when The Cott was announced as the winner in what was an extremely strong selection of pubs from across the country.

'I'm delighted for everyone at the pub and the way they've built The Cott up over the years from scratch and turned it into the best pub in the country is an inspiration to all publicans out there.'

The Cott Inn has previously been listed by The Telegraph as one of the 30 best pubs in Britain and by The Times as one of the 20 best pubs with rooms.