Chalke Valley pub selected as CAMRA Pub of the Year

The Horseshoe, a classic English country pub in the Chalke Valley village of Ebbesbourne Wake, has been selected as the local 2025 Campaign for Real Ale Pub of the Year.

Members of the Salisbury & South Wiltshire branch of CAMRA voted it their Rural Pub of the Year, and an independent panel from a neighbouring branch then decided between it and the members’ choice as Salisbury City Pub of the Year for the overall South Wiltshire title.

Tony and Pat Bath, who have run The Horseshoe since 1986, and their daughter Jayne Sanger, were presented with their Pub of the Year certificate and the Derek Blackshaw Trophy for having won Rural Pub of the Year.

The presentation was made by Chris White, Chairman of the Salisbury & South Wiltshire branch of CAMRA, and Keith Foster, the local Pub of the Year competition co-ordinator.

The Trophy was founded in 2023 in memory of the late Derek Blackshaw, a former branch Chairman who was a great champion of country pubs.

“I am very pleased to be Pub of the Year, it is very kind of everybody who voted for us,” said Tony Bath, who is 83 but says that he has no intention of retiring. “We are an old-fashioned pub, a rural pub and we provide good food and real ale out of a barrel not out of a pump. We also have wonderful staff.”

Keith Foster said: “The Horseshoe Inn is a quintessential rural pub at the heart of its village community. There is a warm and friendly welcome to all, and a wonderful choice of well kept real ales fresh from the barrel. All can be enjoyed in a cosy setting surrounded by an extensive display of farming memorabilia.”

The panel which made the final decision was led by John Buckley, from CAMRA’s North Hampshire branch, who said: “A decision had to be made, so by a whisker it came out as The Horseshoe. No one will be disappointed by either pub and it was an honour to oversee this round of judging.” The identity of the Salisbury City winner will be announced once it has been presented with its winner’s certificate.

In an age when some pub landlords seem to come and go almost before they have had time to take their coats off, the Bath family has an astonishing record of continuity. Tony’s parents, Tom and Glad, took over The Horseshoe in 1971 and, 15 years later, passed the reins to their son, a former Royal Air Force bandsman, and his wife, Pat. They have now been joined by their daughter, Jayne Sanger, who does much of the work in the kitchen.

Tony is passionate about real ales, sourcing beers from breweries in Dorset and Devon, and the food is home-cooked. “We try to keep it as a traditional old pub with a twist to it, the twist being food,” he said. “We have no television, no fruit machines and no music.” A superb collection of horse brasses, agricultural tools and other memorabilia lines the walls.

The history of the building, parts of which go back to the 13th century, is shrouded in mystery. It may well have been a staging post for horses as travellers made their way along the valley between Salisbury and Shaftesbury and was certainly a cottage. It probably became a pub about 150 years ago, meaning the Bath family has been behind the bar for more than one-third of that time.