THE price of a pint in pubs across Worcestershire is one of the cheapest in the country.

Drinkers frequenting pubs here are paying, on average, £2.48 for their favourite lager and ale – the third cheapest in the country and a rise of one pence since this time last year – and customers in Herefordshire are paying about £2.58.

The West Midlands region was the cheapest with an average £2.37 a pint in pubs while prices in places such as Surrey are said to regularly top £3.

The average pub price of a pint of beer across the whole country was £2.68 – up 10 pence since last year.

These figures are the result of a survey undertaken by the editors of The Good Pub Guide 2010 which has just announced the Bell and Cross at Holy Cross, Clent, north Worcester-shire, as its winner of the Pub of the Year award. It was praised by the editors for its “strong sense of individuality and must-come-again appeal”.

Bill Ottaway, spokesman for Worcester Camra (Cam-paign for Real Ale), said it was confusing why prices varied so much countrywide but said that he hoped The Good Pub Guide’s findings would help bring more tourists to Worcestershire.

“For a large organisation, to say our area has one of the best prices for beer in the country; then maybe that will encourage people to come here, try our ales in some of our local pubs, and help the local economy,” he said. Tina Conner, manager of the Bell Inn, St John’s, Worcester, said: “Cheap prices bring people in. A lot of people going to the cricket come in here because they know it’s £2 a pint during the day and it brings customers in that aren’t even from around here.

“Cheap prices don’t affect our profits because it’s always busy. The owner has got five pubs, so that’s why we can do it at that price.”

While about five per cent of pubs have closed across the country during the last year, The Good Pub Guide’s editors said the pub sector’s fortunes during the recession is in line with an estimated six per cent closure rate among urban shops.