A YOUNG chef and his team are doing their best to ensure a Bewdley pub is in the swim when it comes to serving seafood.Running Horse licensee Christine Probert with award-winning chef Matthew Gardner.

The Running Horse on Long Bank has just won the title of National Seafood Pub from a chain which has 170 pubs throughout the country.

Young chef Matthew Gardner, 21, along with Running Horse kitchen staff, beat off the competition to become one of only five national winners by, among other things, coming up with no less than 20 fish specials and nine fish starters.

Pub manager Christine Probert said: "We normally have about 12 fish specials on the board so they all had to put their thinking hats on to come up with the extra. They all worked really hard."

Among the cuisine that caught the imagination of judges in the contest organised by the Spirit chain, formerly Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, were such exotic dishes as paella, oysters and half a pineapple full of an array of seafood. Lobster, squid, crab and sea bream also featured.

Staff also had to become experts of almost Rick Stein proportions as they were asked to wear badges inviting customers to ask them questions about the dishes.

Matthew, of Pedmore, who has been at the Running Horse for two years, wins a place on a cookery course run by the master of fish and seafood cooking Rick Stein at his world-famous restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall.