A toast to antique charm of Yew Tree

QUEEN Victoria's stockings, a 3,000-year-old Grecian urn, several penny farthings and a musical instrument named the Serpent are just some of the items that have earned a watering hole a mention in a new book.

All are on display for the perusal of drinkers amid hundreds of curiosities at a Moorlands pub named 'the country's most eccentric' in a new book celebrating the Great British Boozer.

The Yew Tree, in Cauldon, is an Aladdin's Cave of antiques and features in the newly-published Rough Pub Guide as a welcome return to yesteryear in an age of alcopops and theme bars.

Writers Paul Moody and Robin Turner spent six months travelling around the UK to highlight unusual drinkeries and the unique experiences that can be had in them.

Their list of hundreds has been narrowed down to 50 of the nation's most extraordinary drinking venues to highlight the fact that they are fast becoming an endangered species.

The 300-year-old Yew Tree is sitting pretty at number 17 thanks to the efforts of landlord and ephemera enthusiast Alan East, who has been at the pub for 47 years.

Journalist Paul worked for the New Musical Express for many years and first heard about the Yew Tree when friends from a band urged him to visit "this amazing place near Stoke".

So when he and Robin decided to write an alternative pub guide celebrating the nation's most cherished and unusual drinking venues he knew he had to visit the Grade II-listed building.

He said: "The Yew Tree is incredible and like a timewarp. You can't get it like that overnight – it takes 47 years to create. When you go in there you never want to leave it which is a priceless commodity in a pub."

The book celebrates Alan's collection of symphoniums and polyphons – still in operation for the princely sum of 2p – and the "bow-tie wearing bon viveur" himself.

The 72-year-old, previously dubbed the Moorlands Magpie for his love of collecting, said it was growing up during the Second World War when he first learned not to throw things away. He travels across the UK to unearth his relics and added that an iron dog carrier was particularly popular with visitors who come from all over the world to see his collection.

Alan, who lives at the pub with his wife Carol, said: "I don't mind what people describe me as because it is appreciated by people, especially if they have visited from abroad."

Potteries Pub Preservation Group spokesman Mervyn Edwards said: "It is my personal favourite North Staffordshire pub by dint of its eccentricity and uniqueness."

The Rough Pub Guide, by Orion, retails at £9.99.