Prince praises pub pioneers

Prince Charles names Trinity College boat club's new boat

The Prince of Wales showed off his darts skills and sampled whisky and cider when he called in at a pioneering village pub.

The Dykes End pub in Reach, Cambridgeshire, played host to the prince who met the people who had saved their local.

In the impromptu game, at the invitation of the pub's team, the Dykes End Devil, the prince notched up total of 17 from three darts.

"At least I got on the board - that's the main thing," he said.

Charles then enjoyed a sip of a 14-year-old Oban malt whisky and a swig of Suffolk cider.

College boat

"I think that would suit my eldest son very well. He likes cider," he told regulars.

Villagers in Reach were among the first in the country to rescue their pub.

In the late 1990s, they formed a consortium to buy and run the Dykes End when the threat of closure loomed.

The consortium is now selling the lease to a private landlord and allowing the parish council to retain the freehold.

The prince said that "pioneering" work should inspire other villages throughout the country faced with losing local pubs.

During a day-long visit to Cambridgeshire he also visited a farm and stopped off at Cambridge University's Trinity College, where he was once a student.

There he met members of the college boat club and named a new boat The Prince of Wales.