Here's a true story. An eccentric friend of mine once told a careers advisor at the Job Centre that he wanted to be a lighthouse keeper However, he added, he didn't want to move out of Stoke on Trent, writes Mervyn Edwards, PPPG Press Officer.

Almost as incongruous is the notion of a naval-orientated pub in Silverdale Road; but shiver my timbers; there's something akin to this awaiting your call! "The King's Shilling" - a "Real Ale Tavern" - was opened in December last, and is kept by joint licensees Andy Topham (33) and his partner, Julie (35). The pub was previously the Halfway House reflecting its equidistant location between Newcastle and Silverdale. Unfortunately, the hostelry itself became a "no-man's land" following its not entirely successful re-styling as a pub-restaurant, and rather lost its way. So what exactly did Andy do?

"Structurally, we've not changed the pub that much. We've put some pillars in, and taken some windows out, as it looked like a showroom for a window company."

"We've covered up some brickwork with tongue & groove, and we've turned some of the ripped upholstered seats in to traditional benches by the fireplace. We've tried to restore the hostelry as a traditional pub, whereas before it was too trendy."

Internally the pub is open-plan, but with quite a few corners created by partitions. It is a dimly lit pub, boasting two lovely open fires and multifarious nautical memorabilia, including reproduction posters, recruitment documents, reports on naval battles from the "Illustrated London News' and the "Daily Express", and a conspicuous Union Jack.

All of this reflects Andy's background: "Before coming here, I had an engineering business, but this is no my first pub. I kept the Vine Inn at Shavington between 1989-1990, and then when the Gulf War began in 1991 I went back to the Royal Marines for a year. The King's Shilling, by the way, was what you received when you joined the Navy in olden times - you accepted it and you were recruited."

Andy fondly recalls time spent in Union Street, Plymouth, where there are 40 pubs!

"Our Naval memorabilia come from various museums in Plymouth and Portsmouth, and much of the stuff in the windows has been donated by people visiting the pub - there's a lot of it around."

With a new housing estate having just been built up the road there's a growing catchment area for Andy to target. Re declares: "People are coming in on word of mouth recommendations, but we'll succeed because of the Real Ale. Where I've been stationed in the past there have been Real Ale houses. Yet you go to Newcastle, can't get to the bar, and then it costs you a fortune to get a drink. It's not always good Real Ale anyway."

Real Ale is a serious matter to this licensee. He is immensely knowledgeable on the subject, and has firm ideas on how best to keep it. There is a superb range, too, and on one recent visit to the pub, I encountered a chap at the bar who was making his through all of them in turn.

I can also reveal that Andy slaughters the local competition in terms of the price factor and there is a varied range of live music (on Fridays and Saturdays), provided by pipers, minstrels, a blues band and soft rock (Eagles, Eric Clapton) outfits. Last word to Andy, however:

"We want the locals back in, because previously the pub developed a bad reputation. We want a nice friendly crowd, who'll perhaps enjoy a Sunday lunch, whilst in the week we aim to attract working people who might require a cheap meal. Then of course, there's the Real Ale for all!"

Much to the approbation of the Potteries Pub Preservation Group, Congleton MP Ann Winterton has recently re-launched the fight to stop Britain's pub names being obliterated by the marketing men.

In recent years, many North Staffordshire pub names have been altered in the pursuit of a cheap laugh, and an even quicker buck.

The Lord Nelson in Goldenhill is now the Winking Frog, the Antelope (Hanley) became Rusty's, then Brannigan's and then the Down Under, and the Bull's Head (Newcastle), which became the Old Bull's Head before closing, reopened as Scruffy Murphy's, and was a catalyst in the process of the Potteries Pub Preservation Group's establishment in 1996.

The PPPG accept that pub names have always been prone to change over the centuries, but not at the accelerated rate we are witnessing now. I am one of many drinkers who don't patronise hostelries with trendy names, and so I have lost touch with several pubs, such as the Star (Newcastle) which has been the Super Star, the Boozy Dog, the Pig and Truffle, and is now back to the Boozy Dog.

Old pub names are a mark of tradition and permanence in an ever changing society, and PPPG applauds Ann Winterton's brave attempt to get a bill passed which would force pub-owning companies to consult local authorities and communities before name-changes are implemented.

Editor's Note: The Newcastle Scruffy Murphy's was one of the last of this particularly silly Irish theme.