Which is Britain's best pub?
Raise a glass to the Old Spot Inn in Gloucestershire, a geranium-bedecked hostelry on the Cotswold Way, which was last week voted Pub of the Year by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). The 100-year-old free house, named after the local prize breed of pig, has flagstoned floors and log fires, and serves at least five guest ales at any one time as well as Old Ric, named after the owner. The food is produced in the pub's kitchens rather than on a nearby industrial estate.
Camra members certainly take the job of researching the award seriously - all 200 branches vote for their favourite local. These are then whittled down to four finalists, which are secretly visited by the judges, who make sure not to scrimp on taste-tests of all the brews on offer. So what makes the Old Spot such a winner? 'It's a real hub of the community, the beer's great and it just had the X-Factor,' says Tony Jerome of Camra.
The award coincides with Camra's Community Pubs week - launched after research found that 56 pubs close each month - which aims to encourage people to visit their local at this quiet time of year.
The Old Spot Inn, Hill Road, Dursley, Gloucestershire: 01453 542870; oldspotinn.co.uk. See camra.org.uk for details of the other regional winners.
Where to find the world's best lift music
You wouldn't usually describe the music heard in department store lifts as art, but Mohammed Al Fayed has other ideas. Tomorrow sees the opening at Harrods in London of Lifted, the world's first exhibition to be displayed in elevators.
As part of the Knightsbridge store's 'Senses' season, until 28 March the six Grade II-listed lifts will be devoted to the five senses and an interpretation of the 'sixth' sense. Contributors include Oscar-winning composer Michael Nyman and visual artist Chris Levine.
Levine's 'Sight' lift will feature a light sculpture using Swarovski crystals and lasers to immerse passengers in mesmerising patterns once the doors close. Nyman's 'Sound' composition aims to trigger feelings of confinement. The 'Smell' lift, designed by Aroma Co, emits smells such as pomegranate and fresh laundry via wall-mounted buttons, while the tactile 'Touch' lift was devised by the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
The 'Sixth Sense' lift, however, created by author and 'cosmic ordering' expert Bärbel Mohr, encourages customers to send wishes to the universe and 'reconnect with their inner self'. What more could you ask of an elevator?
