THREE Ribble Valley pubs have been named in a list of the top 50 gastropubs in the country.

Freemasons Country Inn at Wiswell, The Inn at Whitewell and The Three Fishes at Mitton have all been nominated for the Old Speckled Hen gastropub award.

Their final ranking in the awards will be announced at a ceremony in Berkshire on November 15.

More than 700 industry professionals, including chefs, food writers and restaurant bosses voted for their favourite pubs across the country.

Chef patron at Freemasons Country Inn, Steven Smith said: “It’s always rewarding when you are recognised by people from within the industry and I have been told that some of the big names in our region voted for the Freemasons.

"This is another significant benchmark for us.”

Andy Morris, operations director of Ribble Valley Inns which runs The Three Fishes, said: “ We are delighted to have been recognised by our colleagues within the industry, it reflects all the hard work that the staff at The Three Fishes have put in during the year.

Charles Bowman, owner of The Inn at Whitewell, said: “The award is a total surprise.

"It is very nice to be nominated, I don’t think we have been nominated for the award before, but it is nice to be recognised for producing good food.

“We never know when we are being reviewed for the awards so it is an honest representation of our food and service.

“I think our appeal is very broad, we have a lot of families and children who come to us, I think that it is because we serve good traditional inn food.

“The concept of an inn seems to be very rare now but it seems to work.

"We look forward to hearing how we do at the awards ceremony.”