Cheers to the magnificent New Inn in Kilmington! Exeter and East Devon branch of CAMRA visited on Friday and attracted a very special guest – CAMRA chairman Colin Valentine.

Colin was down from Edinburgh for a meeting in Salisbury and seeing as Axminster was on the train route, he thought he would drop by to visit the “Magnificent Seven” pub. The Magnificent Seven are the handful of pubs that have been in every edition of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. That’s Colin, second from the left. Raymond Dwan – chair of the Exeter & East Devon branch is in the blue shirt. Also pictured is Ian Packham, CAMRA South West Regional Director (wearing a black shirt). The pub recently had new licensees when Brian and Denise Jenkins retired.

Tom Hutchings, our tenanted trade director, said: ‘It’s been a very smooth transition. We were sad to see Brian and Denise depart, but they still live locally and pop in from time-to-time. New landlords Chris and Becky are doing a great job and we are confident the pub will be back again in the Good Beer Guide this year.’

Brian and Denise later joined the group for a pint.