The sleepy Shropshire village of Alveley only has a population of about 3,000 people – so when the village’s Three Horseshoes pub romped home in a radio competition to find the best pub in Shropshire with more than 17,000 online votes other entrants cried foul.

Peter Thompson, of The Three Furnaces pub in Tweedale, Telford, came second in the Best Pub category of the Beacon Radio awards with just 1,659 votes.

However, that in itself was more than double the amount The Three Furnaces got last year when they won the award.

Mr Thompson claims a computer automated voting programme may have been used to vote up to 150 times an hour for the winning pub – claims rubbished today by Beacon Radio bosses and dismissed as “sour grapes” by the Three Horseshoes landlord.

Mr Thompson said: “We want to know how a small country pub can get 10 times more votes than its nearest competitor. We need to speak up, ask questions, demand an inquiry.

“We know of at least three programmes that can be downloaded and used on a free trial that automate votes.

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“No security was placed on the Beacon voting system to prevent this from happening.”

Kate Fuller, marketing manager for Beacon Radio, said the station had carried out a full and thorough investigation.

She said there was no evidence or proof that any voting software had been used.

“We have looked into IP addresses, names, e-mails and made thorough investigations,” she said.

“There were instances when the same person had voted a lot, which is within the rules, but there was no evidence of system voting.”

Alan Sambrooks, who took over at the Three Horseshoes three years ago, said the pub had won “fair and square” and dismissed the claims as sour grapes.

“I am not a cheat and I am not a liar, I am a businessman and an entrepreneur working hard to build up his business,” he added.

“This pub has been a big part of this village since 1406 and we had 3,000 households backing us, their sons, daughters and families backing us, as well as big connections we have in the Black Country with various clubs that use the place.”

By Wayne Beese