AFTER what’s been a deeply difficult year for the hospitality sector, a toast should be raised to one Shropshire pub which has tasted triumph among the bitterness.

The Black Lion Hotel in Ellesmere can dine out on the fact they’ve emerged from the uncertainty and financial loss of lockdowns with a coveted award. The Scotland Street pub collected the Best Hotel and Bar at the Central England Prestige Awards 2020/21 last month, with Covid-19 restrictions easing sufficiently for manager Chris Peach to attend a ceremony to celebrate the finest establishments in the region, which was held at the Moor Hall Hotel & Spa in Sutton Coldfield.

“It’s great to win this award for the Central England region, it’s something that’ll really help us push on and it’s great to have after the turbulent time we’ve been through with the pandemic and various lockdowns,” said Chris.

“We were encouraged to enter the competition and we actually should have collected it in May last year but we couldn’t because of restrictions. We won it again this year so we’re quite pleased with that. The staff have worked hard for it. We have to give them credit, they make the place. We don’t have a high turnover here and we have some staff who’ve been with us for three years.”

After the joy of receiving the award went hand in hand with the reopening of pubs in the UK – first outside and in recent weeks indoors as well – the UK Government announced last week that coronavirus rules are remaining in place in England for another four weeks.

England was due to move to stage four of the government's roadmap out of lockdown on June 21, but Boris Johnson announced earlier last week that those plans will now be pushed back, delaying the “Freedom Day” celebrations – the restoration of bar, restaurants and entertainment venues to their full capacity – deep into July.

But even without the accolade, Chris says he hasn’t got much to complain about.

“Business has been good since reopening,” he said.

“Average takings have picked up around 25 per cent. We’re obviously getting new customers, which is really positive. I think there’s been a slight shift and a change of customers, who are getting younger.

“I think a lot of kids have had their 18th birthdays over lockdown so they’re all out and having delayed celebrations, and they are thinking ‘let’s have a drink now’.”

The Black Lion is situated usefully on the Llangollen Canal, so ordinarily Chris is used to attracting a multicultural list of clientele. But even though Covid has barred visits from overseas customers, he is pleased to see more trade from locals using the waterway.

“We’re on the canal so that trade has picked up,” said Chris.

“It was non-existent last year, but they’re coming in droves now. We had been missing our foreign tourists who spend lots here, they come every year from Scandinavia and all sorts of places. But, on the plus side, there are a lot more domestic people on the canal now.”