A HAMPSHIRE country pub is receiving an award for appearing in the longest-running good beer guide for 50 years continuously.

The Flower Pots, in Brandy Mount, Cheriton, will receive the award from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) on Friday, August 23, the first day of the pub’s annual Pots Fest.

Rupert Boissier, managing director of the Flower Pots Inn and Brewery, said he was proud of the achievement.

He told the Chronicle: “It’s not just us – the three of us in the village who own The Pots, we’ve only owned it for five years. The previous 45 years it was owned by Paul Tickner and Jo Bartlett, who also live in the village.

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“We have been in the guide, from this year, for 50 year’s consecutively, and I think the 50th anniversary of the guide was last year, and I think there are only a few pubs which have been in it consecutively for that length of time.

“To cut a long story short, it is quite an accolade and it’s a rare thing to have achieved, and I think CAMRA is quite proud – particularly in the South Hampshire branch –that they have a pub which has been in the guide for many years. And we’re really proud too.

“Paul and Jo are the real heroes, they kept it going for all that time, and 45 years on the trot, they were in the guide.”

Rupert said that he believes that the continued success of the pub is because the staff’s core ethos is “It’s all about the beer”.

He continued: “For us it’s all about the beer, and the DNA of the place – obviously contributed to by the fact we have the brewery next door and it has gone from strength to strength and produces beer which is sold in 300 or so pubs – and at our peril do we forget that.

“We taste the beer every morning and evening, we make sure it is conditioned properly, we make sure it is on temperature control properly.

“We are very much a traditional brewery. We use grain from Hampshire, we are near the source of the River Itchen, and we try to keep everything authentic.”

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Rupert said that he wanted to thank Jo and Paul, as well as CAMRA.

He said: “Without CAMRA, we wouldn’t get the award, and they are massive supporters of real ale, and that is what we do.

“I think all the staff who have worked at The Pots over the years need to be thanked – predominately people who live in the village and in Alresford. I would also definitely thank the residents of Cheriton, because they support us and without them we wouldn’t have a business.”