THE steward of a working men's club, who was a regular for 30 years before landing the top job, has picked up the Club of the Year award in his first 12 months behind the bar.

John Freeman, of Sydney Street Working Men's Club, Accrington, beat off more than 100 others to scoop the Campaign for Real Ale's East Lancashire Club of the Year.

John, 50, was presented with the award by Roy Hartley, CAMRA's East Lancashire branch officer.

The competition was determined by CAMRA members visiting clubs across the region and sampling their real ale.

CAMRA is an organisation which looks to promote and safeguard the production of real ale and they gave John the award after they tasted his 'guest' beer at the time -- Young's Special.

John, delighted that his work had been recognised, said the secret of his success was down to keeping a good cellar and looking after the mundane but important details, such as keeping the lines clean.

He said: "It's a bit of a surprise. We're not doing anything special. I just try to keep on top of everything.

"We have a guest beer, an ale from a different brewery, every week so that's why CAMRA came in."

John may have been behind the bar for only a year but he has accumulated a good deal of experience. He previously worked as assistant steward in the club and looked after the bar and cellar for a number of years.

"I used to do some cellar work at the club part-time so it seemed natural to take over the place was the position was offered."

In spite of his short tenure, the club's fame is already starting to spread beyond East Lancashire.

"We had a chap in from London recently. He was in the area on business and said he visited CAMRA's website to see where he could get a decent pint while he watched Rovers play Spurs."

Roy Hartley, of CAMRA, said: "We looked at more than 100 clubs in East Lancashire and this one was the best. It serves a different real ale every week and John has two other standard cask beers as well. No other club does that."