IN towns and villages across Hampshire and Surrey, the pub is the cornerstone of the community. It should not however be taken for granted - we regularly report on public houses in peril.

To celebrate and support our pubs and showcase what makes each one great, we have launched the News & Mail Pub of the Year 2013 competition. Each week, readers can get involved by using the form in the paper to vote for who they think deserves the title. Every vote counts.

‘A traditional public house which boasts a selection of real ales’ is how the landlord of the Prince of Wales in Farnborough has described his beloved pub.

In a bid to be crowned the News & Mail Pub of the Year 2013, landlord Peter Moore has spoken fondly of his Rectory Road pub.

The Prince of Wales has already claimed the Beer of the Year award from the Surrey and Hants Border (SHB) branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for the last four years and the pub also placed in CAMRA’s top 16 pubs in the UK in 2009.

Peter, 56, said: “The Prince of Wales is a fantastic little pub. I love the pub so much, it is a joy to get up in the morning and come in here.

"It is a very traditional public house and I would say our main feature is our real ales, we have 10 on at a time. People come in here and experience different ales and go away happy.”

He runs a beer festival every year featuring up to 60 beers, which he says is “hugely popular” and has become a date in their diaries.

“We have a huge clientèle and they are fantastic, lots and lots of people come in. Some come in every day and we have a wide range of clients who all enjoy the real ales,” he added.

“We get people from 19 or 20 years old all the way up to people in their 80s or 90s. It is very relaxed, we have background music on so people can talk – it is a social venue.”

Peter explained that the Prince of Wales is a free house pub, and so can feature ales from across the UK. He and his wife Julie took over the venue 11 years ago, after he had been a manager for a company running a number of pubs in the area.

The earliest mention of the Prince of Wales public house was in 1867 when the landlord was William Compton, a beer retailer and fly proprietor.

Peter said it is believed Mr Compton used to run two horse-drawn cabs to meet trains at Farnborough Main and Farnborough North Railway Stations.

Peter and Julie have now handed the day-to-day running of the pub to a young couple, Miles and Loren Parker.

Another feature of the Prince of Wales is its contribution to charity work. Staff and drinkers at the pub have raised money for a number of causes, including the Aldershot and Farnborough branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham.

“We try to benefit the community,” added Peter. “It is key that we help and benefit these charities. A lot goes on, we try and hold a charity event once a month.

“I want to continue the Prince of Wales on into the future. Obviously pubs are falling by the wayside at the moment, but it is our heritage and it would be nice to continue that for many years to come.”

For a voting form, pick up your copy of the News & Mail, out now.

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