Watch: Inside the Wellington pub with a friendly welcome, family feeling and great beer

In the case of Philippa Davies and the Plough Inn on King Street in Wellington, it is a place which was a welcoming, warm and safe space and which has become her work, her love and her home.

The pub has been in the town since the 1760s and is a multi-roomed pub with various nooks and crannies, while the room at the rear has a pool table, plenty of seating and tables and a games machine.

It has undergone a significant renovation recently by owners Stonegate Pubs and was put under the stewardship of landlady Philippa Davies in August, marking the next step in an association with the pub which Ms Davies said started years ago as a customer.

She said: "I'd always drunk there and it was the only pub that I've ever really drunk in in Wellington as while I've visited a couple of others, I've always come back to this one.

"My ex-husband was in the military and this is a very military-influence pub, which kind of drew me in, as well as it being influenced by friends in the military and I started working there as a barmaid about two years ago.

"I was thinking that I could do a better job and put my money where my mouth was, as the place needed love and I think we've been able to revive it back up to what it used to be like."

Since taking over as landlady in August, Ms Davies has worked with Stonegate to give the pub a full revamp and renovation, with the newly refurbished pub opening at the end of September to what she said were great reviews.

She said: "Thankfully, everyone has been really pleased with the changes and it does look fantastic, so we've had nothing but good reviews.

"We kept all the work secret, so we blacked out the windows to make sure no one could see what we were doing and it was like a big review which really gave that wow factor for everyone."

Ms Davies said that while the pub was owned by and had to buy beers through Stonegate, it had the freedom to put behind the bar anything that it wanted to do, with a mixture of classics and staples, as well as some premium drinks.

She said: "We've kept the classics, so we still serve Carling, Fosters, John Smiths and Guinness as, without those, we wouldn't be open because they are our staples, but we also sell things like Camden Hells and we've got some more snazzy lagers on sale.

"We've also got three ales on and we always try to get a couple of unusual ones in, such as Wadsworth 6X, Shropshire Gold and Frosty Fangs, and we try not to have the same ones in that other pubs have.

"We also have a fantastic selection of gins and plenty of classic choices for vodka and whisky, so we made sure we've got it covered for pretty much everyone."

The pub is a wet-led pub, with only bar snacks on for food at present, although Ms Davies said there were plans in the future for cobs due to demand from customers.

She said that the Plough Inn was a place which was home for her, a place with a charitable feeling to it through its work to support military and veteran charities and somewhere she had always felt safe.

She said: "It means home and has always felt like home as it's the one one I could ever walk in to and not feel uncomfortable, and it just has that family feeling."