Maybe it's because I'm not lucky enough to have a local, with the cold, dark nights making the good half hour walk very unattractive, but I'm not used to this friendly banter between strangers.

I'm used to going to noisy city centre bars and pubs where seating is a luxury and pushing and shoving and spilt drinks down your frock are an unavoidable pain.

Or maybe it's just that I'm getting older and being able to sit down to sup your drink and actually hear what your friends are saying without having them shout down your ear has become all the more appealing.

Whatever it is, this pub put a smile on my face.

Then it happened again.

As we were ordering our drinks, a man sitting at the bar struck up conversation and the two of us and the barmaid had a bit of a laugh.

Stunned, not just by the joviality of everyone but also by the fact I'd just paid a mere £2 for a pint of Fosters and the largest glass of white wine I've ever been served, I sat down and realised this is what a pub is all about.

It's the staple of a community, somewhere for locals to sit down, relax, let off steam and have a gossip.

While the decor isn't up to much, it's clean and does what it says on the tin.

It's spacious and there definitely wouldn't be too much trouble trying to find a seat, with plenty of tables and chairs dotted about the open-plan room.

There's a pool table, a fruit machine and two plasma screen TVs, which show football on match days.

And, in the signs of a true local pub, photos of good times are plastered behind the bar.

There's also plenty of drinks to choose from, with a good selection of lagers, wines and beers and shelf upon shelf of spirits, with Tuesdays boasting cheap drinks and Wednesdays and Thursdays offering three bottles for the price of two.

I'm currently trying to sell my house, and after visiting The Inn Place I know what's going to be a huge factor in deciding exactly where I move to – whether there's a decent boozer nearby.

Marissa Carruthers



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