AS your votes for Pub of the Year keep coming in one of the watering holes in the running for the prize is Alma Tavern.

Our Pub of the Year contest sees readers voting for their favourite establishment in the city, with the winning landlord receiving a trophy and being invited to parliament by Worcester’s MP.

The Worcester News reported in the summer that Jon Dean and Will Bradley, who boast 22 years of experience in the industry between them, had been recruited to run The Alma Tavern.

The Droitwich Road venue has had a turbulent past, at one point being closed for 18 months after previous tenant Tim Churchman walked away.

But they said the pub was doing well since they had took it on.

"The day we reopened, there was a queue of 30 people waiting to get in," Mr Dean said.

"From that point on it has grown."

READ MORE: New licensees take over The Alma Tavern, 12 months after it was boarded up

READ MORE: PUB OF THE YEAR: The Winning Post in the running for award

Mr Dean said they were still working on their ambitious plans for the refurbishment of the venue, adding people should look out for the improvements.

Asked what their response would be if Alma Tavern won the competition, Mr Dean said: "It will be a huge endorsement of what we have done.

"We are so grateful to the support of the local community.

"We aim to be a real local pub, in our community."

To vote send the newspaper slip to Pub of the Year, Worcester News, Hylton Road, WR2 5JX.

We’re now allowing our readers to vote for their favourite pub by email too. All they need to do is email deb.walton@localiq.co.uk with the subject ‘WORCESTER NEWS PUB OF THE YEAR: NAME OF THE PUB’ and then, in the body of the email, explain why you’ve chosen this pub.

The deadline for email votes is the same as for the voting slips in the paper: Friday, December 20.

The winner will be announced in the newspaper and on our website on Christmas Eve. If you’d like your favourite pub to be featured, email michael.purton@newsquest.co.uk.