We visited a Market Drayton pub with nearly 60 years of family history and a warm welcome to anyone who visits

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Within the pub trade, there are plenty of examples of pubs where people have followed on from their parents, working behind the bar and then taking over the running of the pub as their parents chose to retire.

In the case of the Joiners Arms in Market Drayton, the family connection is one which has been part of it for more than 60 years, with Neil Montford following in the footsteps of his parent Sydney and Celia, who ran the pub as licensees in the early 1960s.

The pub had been under the ownership of Marston's until the lease went up for sale in 2015, with Karen Montford saying that she and her husband had decided to take the plunge and buy the pub.

She said: "My husband's parents ran it as licensees in 1963 and had the pub for about 15 years, and it ended up being owned by Marston's Brewery until 2015, when they decided to put it up for sale.

"Neil decided to buy it as it was where he grew up as a kid and he had a real emotional link to the pub, as well as having worked in the pub trade around the town, such as in the Corbett Nightclub and Oscar's Wine Bar.

"I'd never worked in a pub before and it's been learning by doing for me, but I've got used to it and we do love running this pub."

The pub has a really nostalgic feeling to it, with old black and white photos in the pub, and Ms Montford said there was a special photo which was of her husband and with his father photoshopped into the back ground.

The pub is very much a community pub, which supports pub darts, dominoes and pool teams, with six tables at the back of the pub, plus a Sunday Pub football team.

It has an extensive conservatory on the back hosting the pool tables and has Sky and BT Sports channels showing regular sporting fixtures, as well as a streaming jukebox.

Ms Montford said the pub was one which surprised people when they first entered as it appeared bigger than they expected.

She said: "They expect it to be old, but we've modernised it so that it has more contemporary colours of grey, black and chrome, and then they're surprised when they head to the back and see the conservatory room and the pool tables.

"When we first bought it, we left the people who were there to run it, but then it started to get busier and became too busy for them, so we took it on ourselves."

The pub is a freehold, but has a partnership with Molson Coors and, as a result, the most popular drink behind the bar is Carling.

Ms Montford said: "We have the contract with Molson Coors as it means we can get beer cheaper and while Carling is the most popular, we also have Pravda and Madri and Cruzcampo and beers like that, which go down really well.

"We're not a big real ale pub and we tend to stick to the lagers and ciders, such as Dark Fruits, Thatchers and the like."

Ms Montford said the pub was very much part of her husband's history and had become their own little family business.

She said: "It's our own family-run business and is all about the history for Neil as it's in the town where he grew up and where people know him and his family.

"We still get customers that come here and knew his dad and it's got that nostalgic feeling to it, which you definitely get standing behind the bar here."