A landlady is celebrating after landing the title of Pub of the Year.

Jean Baxter, who runs the Victoria on St John’s Street in Great Harwood, won the award of Hyndburn Pub of the Year from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

The former nurse said she was thrilled when she found out she had won.

She added: “I found out three weeks ago that my pub had been recognised by the CAMRA members in East Lancashire.

“I was shocked when I found out, as there was a lot of competition from all the other pubs in Hyndburn.

“I’ve been here for 14 years. I worked as a nurse in Lancaster Moor hospital for 17 years before I came to the pub.

“I don’t have any live bands or music or anything like that on here, this is a talking pub, a real ale pub.

“The staff were delighted when they heard we had won. All my regulars have congratulated us too, they’re really happy.”

The Victoria is a Grade II listed building and serves a range of draught beer and cider as well as a range of real ales from micro breweries.

Jean, 67, said: “It’s a lovely building to work in. There’s five rooms in the pub and there’s art nouveau tiles, it’s beautiful.”

John Webster, chairman of East Lancashire CAMRA, said Jean and all her staff are “superb”.

He added: “When you go into a pub you want a warm welcome. The Victoria is a beautiful building and it’s kept in excellent condition.

“Most importantly, when our volunteers visit these pubs to try and judge which is the best, the beer has to be good, and every time they went it was.

“We cover a large area and instead of awarding only one pub in East Lancashire we award one for each of the council areas we cover.”