Dominic Leighton, licensee of the Three Mariners, with the CAMRA pub of the year award
Lancaster’s oldest pub, The Three Mariners, has been named pub of the year 2017 by the Lunesdale branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
The pub was acquired by Robinsons Brewery in 2015. Throughout its 600 years, it has witnessed a large amount of the town’s history and enjoyed strong ties with Lancaster Castle.
The 15th century pub is one of only two sites in Britain with an original gravity-fed cellar, and it has the only cellar to be chilled by a natural spring trickling through from the castle rock.
It is also rumoured that prisoners were taken to the pub for a last drink with their families, led from the castle dungeons through a rumoured hidden passage. The Three Mariners, then known as The Red Lion, would even hold those awaiting The Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 in its first-floor cellar.
Licensee, Dominic Leighton, said: “I am amazed to receive the award — it was a very nice surprise. Over the last four years we have built up an amazing customer base and it is them that enable us to do this.
“I’ve got the best bunch of staff you could ask for and an amazing team of chefs in the kitchen. Thank you to Robinsons for ensuring that we’ve continued to get a great selection of ales, and for helping us to expand to having nine handpulls as well, which has really helped to set us apart from the competition.”
Dominic received the award at a presentation and buffet at the pub last week.
