IT has been open for less than a year, but a Wallingford inn has been named Campaign for Real Ale’s (Camra) pub of the season for the winter.

Paul Davies, 35, reopened the Town Arms, in High Street, last March after a six-month closure.

He started serving real ales and traditional pub food, which impressed Camra’s secret visitors.

Mr Davies, who lives at the pub, said: “We’ve started serving real ales and this is recognition it was the right move.

“We have managed to turn the pub around. It is now a welcoming place for people to come and have a drink.

“It is very friendly, clean and cosy, with an open fire, a nice place to spend an evening.”

Mr Davies, who runs the pub on a freehold lease for the owner, employs eight staff.

South Oxfordshire Camra branch secretary Paul Dixon said: “It is a pub back from the dead really. These guys turned it around. Now it is a nice pub with a good selection of beers. It is an asset to the town.”

The pub of the season awards are an initiative by the branch.