THE Harbour Moon, on the quayside at West Looe, is the pub with the best view in town. The one long bar, with low ceilings, has large panoramic windows which overlook the Looe river from the bridge to down beyond the fish market. In fact the view is dominant, and if you didn't know any better you would think it was a large mural it is so lovely.

Landlord for the past eleven years has been Nigel Redgrave who was joined behind the bar five years ago by his partner Ali Clements, a Looe girl whose family go back in the area for generations. Between them the lively couple run a very busy pub, and for Ali, becoming a landlady was an easy task as she says she has been doing bar work since she was 18 years old. 'I already knew the ropes' said Ali, ' as I had previously worked in The Globe and also at the Admiral Boscarn for many years and I obviously know a lot of local people'.

Second chef at Redders Bistro, a busy part of the Harbour Moon complex, is Nigel's son Ross, while another son, Shaun, is a solicitor in Oxford. Ali has two children who are 14 year old Joanne and Stuart (12).

The Harbour Moon is a popular meeting place for several organisations, especially The Small Boats Club which was formed about two years ago, a nucleus of members meeting for a chat and drink most days. They say the pub is ideal because they can literally step off their boats, moored in the river, almost right into their favourite 'watering hole'. 'We like it here because even if we arn't out with the club we can sit with our drinks and look at our boats' said Les Weymouth. 'And Nigel is great. He doesn't mind what we are wearing, we even bring in our fish with us sometimes' he laughed. Les recalled a time when he brought in a dog fish in a plastic bag and put it down by the door.

He was at the bar getting his drink when some lady visitors started screaming, because the bag was moving along the floor. Apparently there was still some life in the old dog yet!

Also meeting at the pub is the Harbour Moon Gun Club, a rough shooting cyndicate which has been going for about seven years and of which Nigel is chairman. 'That's why there are so many dogs in the pub' says Nigel. 'On shooting days in the season there can be up to nine retrievers in here at one time'. Then there is The Moonshiners Golf Society, organised by Nigel Pearn and Tony Edwards, with has about 30 members who meet once a month during the winter. The members play golf on different courses throughout Cornwall and then head back to the pub for dinner. 'It's a good way of keeping all us golfers together' says Nigel.

The Harbour Moon opens from 11am-11pm every day of the week, and on working days at about 5pm the bar begins filling up with builders, fishermen, farmers, in fact all sorts of people from different walks of life, who meet for a drink at the end of the day to wind down before going home. They have been doing it for so long they have named themselves the 'Five O'Clock Club'.

'Buzzing'

But the pub is always buzzing. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, winter and summer, it is the highly popular 'Karaoke Nights' with Jeff and Jo Mudd, Jeff being of 'The Mudlarks' fame, and many years previously having been the pub's landlord. The pub also has men's and ladies darts teams and a euchre team, all playing in local leagues.

The single storey pub itself was built in a garden and opened as a bar just after the Second World War, and is attached to the older part of the property which probably began life as a fisherman's cottage, being situated right next door to the old Looe bridge, with Bass Hill coming down behind. It was a cafe for a long time, and during the war was a billet for American soldiers. But for many years it was a restaurant and since the establishment of the Harbour Moon has grown in popularity.

Nigel and Ali are delighted to have Paul Kingswood as their chef, who joined the staff after having a year's break and formerly being at The Talland Bay Hotel as head chef for 14 years. 'I believe we now have one of the top chefs in the West, he is a real "foodie" ' says Nigel. After Christmas the format of the restaurant was changed and it became 'Redder's Bistro' for the first time with Paul adding his own special flair to the menu, which makes a lot of use of Looe's daily fresh caught fish. A favourite speciality dish is grilled whole lemon sole with prawns and smoked salmon in butter sauce. Paul is keen on using the freshest of ingredients, many of which he grows in his own small market garden, including all the herbs.

Kitchen team

Making up the rest of the kitchen team along with Paul and Ross are Louise Graham who is training as the comis chef, while at the front of house is head waiter Phil Dawson, known as the 'singing waiter' as he is a star turn at the karaoke. Part time waitresses are Samantha Roberts, and newest recruit, Jo Mudd.

On the pub side, which also serves up tasty bar meals, the staff comprise head barman Sean Kenny, Louise Brooks who is Ali's lifelong friend, Jackie Hartley, Mari Sanderson and Lucy Davies.

The Bistro, which is a popular venue for club dinners and wedding receptions, seating up to 50, has been named 'Redders' because it was Nigel's nickname during his rugby playing days. A former captain of Liskeard/Looe at 41, and then a coach, he was also a founder of the highly successful mini rugby club. For ten years he played for the Plymouth Albion squad and also played a few games for Gloucester. Obviously a sporting man, and a seeker of adventure, it was only last year that Nigel took part in the Monte Carlo rally as navigator to local driver Mike Cotton. The pair's expedition is highlighted with photographs on the pub wall next to the pool table, and was avidly followed by customers who helped raise about £1,400 for Arthritis Research at the same time.

On the day the Cornish Times called Nigel was outside the pub in the pouring rain, together with Sean Kenny, busily putting up the boxes and baskets of plants in time for the Bank Holiday weekend, and which will soon make the exterior of the Harbour Moon as beautiful as the view from within.

A supporter of Looe In Bloom, the pub has won first prize in competitions over several years and was the 1998 SECTA cup winner for Caradon In Bloom. But all this would not have been possible without Nigel's mum, the 'young' 78 year old Marjorie Redgrave, who nurtures all the plants during the winter months, especially the geraniums and fuschias.

Book-keeper

Up until only last year Marjorie was also doing all the planting out and watering the colourful display, but Nigel says he has now told her it is time she stopped climbing up ladders! Marjorie moved to Looe in 1989, and has been coming to the pub on a regular day each week because she has also been the book keeper for the last 14 years.

During the summer months The Harbour Moon is a favourite with tourists, but the local clientele are the people who give it its own special brand of atmosphere.

Barrie and Joyce Gunner moved to Looe two years ago after fallingin love with it after many holidays and not wanting to go back home again. For Barrie, a steward on the 1st Great Western Railway, who travels from Plymouth to Paddington and back about four times a week, he says his drink at the pub with the locals is one of the best parts of his busy schedule.

The Harbour Moon is also the favourite pub of Mick and Ronnie Shaw, and last week for Ronnie, a receptionist at Looe Bay Holiday Camp, it was the rendezvous for meeting members of her family she hadn't seen for more than 22 years.

Over a lunchtime drink she was able to catch up with her uncle and aunt, Mr Harry and Mrs Kit Lee, and her cousin Janet Cracknell, who took time out from their break at Torquay for the trip to Looe.

As Ali says 'The Harbour Moon is an extremely happy pub where lots of friendly people meet and nice things happen'.