The Cider Bar, in East Street, Newton Abbot, has been named the Cider Pub of the Year by South Devon CAMRA, the local branch of The Campaign for Real Ale, which also promotes traditional ciders and berries.

The bar sells about 30 different ciders, including about 12 ‘real’ ones, along with a couple of perries (fermented pear juice). Customers’ ceramic and pottery drinking pots are hung from above the bar, with the more favoured ones from the ceiling behind the bar.

The ‘Cork Club’ has met every Sunday for hundreds of years, with photographs (formerly paintings) of their outings adorning the walls. The bar is the last remaining regularly open Cider House in the country (there is no licence for beer or spirits).

Food is on offer is the traditional ham and cheese & onion rolls that have been served here for years.

Presenting the award to owner Jonathan McCool, CAMRA chairman Bob Southwell praised the Cider Bar for being a ‘unique institution’ whose fame spreads well beyond South Devon.

A further presentation was made to Richard Knibbs, the previous owner of the Ye Olde Cider Bar who, having taken over around 46 years ago made the Cider Bar into the institution that it has become today. He received a special CAMRA award for his lifelong devotion and commitment to cider.