A TREASURE trove of over 300 whiskies has helped the Marton Arms at Thornton-in-Lonsdale scoop the "Whisky Pub of the Year" title.

Awarded by The Good Pub Guide, the Marton Arms took the title for its wide range of malts, including some interesting rarities.

Landlord Colin Elsdon said: "We're really pleased. When we started on the malt whisky trail we never thought it would go this far."

The pub started to specialise in whisky around five years ago when the bar was extended. Colin was faced with extra space and thought bottles of whisky would fit in nicely.

Now there are whiskies galore including some over 20 years old and from little known distilleries. They are all arranged in alphabetical order to give the bar staff a fighting chance of finding specific ones quickly!

"I love going to Scotland so I mixed business with pleasure and started getting more unusual whiskies, said Colin. "In the last two months there's been 32 empty bottles. We are getting noted for it now and I am sure this award from the Good Pub Guide will make it even better."

The Marton Arms also has 15 hand pumps for beers and as such the Good Pub Guide has the hostelry in its top 10 beer pubs in the country.