AN enterprising Ribble Valley landlord has devised a winning recipe to beat the credit crunch – beer flavoured ice-cream.

David Wardleworth, who is head chef and landlord at The Traders Arms in Mellor, insists on Thwaites Original as the key ingredient for his new ‘Lancashire’ delicacy.

“It’s proving immensely popular,” said David, 35, who introduced the ice-cream after the flavour proved a smash hit with regulars during a special tasting session.

Although David insists the recipe must remain a closely guarded secret, he said the key ingredient was Thwaites Original cask ale.

“We make all our own ice-cream at the pub and regularly experiment with different flavour combinations,” said David.

“On one occasion we decided to make a batch with cask ale, so we tried the Daniel Thwaites festive ale, Good ‘Elf. After that went down well with our regulars, we decided to make another based on Thwaites Original, which is now selling even better.”

With pubs continuing to close at unprecedented levels across the UK, more and more landlords are turning to food to combat the recession, meaning the competition for diners has never been fiercer.

However, David, who has been the landlord at The Traders for two years, believes his signature dessert is helping the pub get a name for its food.

“It’s becoming more and more difficult to make a living in the pub trade these days, mainly because of the amount of tax on beer, so landlords like me have to try other things to pull the customers in,” said David.

“Good food is one way of doing that, and our unique selling point at The Traders is our homemade ice-cream.

“Some of our regulars like it so much, they have asked me to make batches for them, which they can take-away to have at home.

“Long may that continue!”