A PENDLETON pub has been named the Lancashire Pub of the Year for the second time in three years.

The Swan With Two Necks previously won the Campaign For Real Ale award in 2011, and will now go forward to compete for the national prize.

The family-run business came second in the national competition in 2011 and is determined to go one step further this time.

Steve Dilworth, who has run the pub with his wife Christine for 26 years, said: “We are very pleased and proud to have been given this award again, and the staff really deserve it.

“This is a traditional village pub and we work very hard to maintain that, and to offer the wide selection of beers that we do.

“The next phase of the comp-etition will be tough because we are up against the winning pubs from the Isle of Man and Cumbria in the regional final.

“The judging for that stage is going on at the moment and we are all keeping our fingers crossed .”

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans, who lives next door to the pub, said: “Yet again this rural local has surpassed itself in the support it gets from its loyal customers.

“The friendliness of the staff is only exceeded by the high quality of the cask ales.

“The landlord loves his beers so much, he not only knows how best to handle them – he talks to them when he is in the cellar.

“On top of the great beers is excellent food, cooked by expert chefs.

“All in all, this pub has become my home from home and that is even when I live next door to it.”

If the pub makes it through to the ‘super-regional’ round, it will comp-ete against three other pubs in the final.