THE Admiral Boscarn pub on the seafront at Looe has been owned and run by Alan Stone, with his fiancee Mandy Pearce, for the past three years.

The Stone family are well known in the area. Alan and his family owned Treble B holiday park which they sold four years ago. His mother and father now own Kilminorth Farm Cottages and his sister, Veronica Rickard, owns The Jubilee at Pelynt. Alan went out on his own with The Admiral Boscarn.

The pub has been gradually refurbished over the years with new carpet in the downstairs bar, new furniture in the nightclub, which can cater for 350 people, fitted seats and also central heating which is currently being installed. The whole building is being fitted with new windows and the 'Red Wing' function bar, which can seat 185 people, has been completely refurbished with new wallpaper, seats, dance area, stage and carpets.

Alan and Mandy are in the process of decorating what will be the snooker room upstairs where there will be a full size snooker table, and this should be ready before Easter.

Mandy said: 'We have done a lot of the work, redecorating, re-upholstering seats ourselves.' Alan explained: 'We have eight CCTV cameras around the building, covering each bar and room and one which also covers the street outside.'

The pub has a beer garden, which won third prize in the Looe in Bloom 2000, Best Public House Floral Display. The beer garden is decorated in a Mediterranean style and boasts what may be the best view from a beer garden in the area, looking out over Looe beach towards the sea. The garden also has an outside bar, and joining the Red Wing bar.

Mandy said: 'Alan's dad has a large greenhouse at Kilminorth and keeps all our plants up there and grows them on for us during the winter.'

The pub hosts live entertainment every night in the summer with various bands and karaoke. In the winter karaoke is held every other week and live bands play occasionally.

The club is open every Friday and Saturday night until 1am and in the summer the club is also open on Wednesdays and Thursdays with DJs Gary Pearce and Trevor Heath playing.

There are four mixed pool teams in the Looe and Polperro Pool League which meet at the pub on Sundays. The teams are currently in divisions one, two and three. The one mixed darts team is in the Looe Pubs Tuesday League.

Mandy is a trained chef and worked with Pete Ratcliff at the 'Smugglers Cott' in Looe for some years. She does all the cooking at the pub as they serve food during the summer season from Easter to September and host functions in the Red Wing throughout the year - ranging from wedding receptions to birthday parties. One of the regular functions is the Looe Pubs Darts League, which, Mandy said: 'Has to be without fault, because all the other landlords come here!'

Happy Hour

Happy Hour at The Admiral Boscarn is from 6 until 7pm from Sunday to Thursday and from 8 until 10pm on Friday and Saturday with spirits at £1 and £1.70 for a pint.

The Admiral Boscarn includes Sky television as a feature and Alan said: 'Everyone seems to pile in here when the big matches are on.'

Fourteen-year-old Matthew Wright comes to the pub with his family a couple of times a week to practice playing pool. He played his first game in the league at the weekend and won 2:1 in division two, filling in for another player from the Boscarn, beating a man more than twice his age!

Matthew's father, Peter, also plays in the division two team and his youngest son, three-year-old Jamie, is already practising to become the next pool player in the family.

Lynne Wright, Peter's wife, has just started working at the pub and explained: 'We have been coming here since the summer last year. We live at Polperro but we get such a great welcome here. There is a brilliant atmosphere and the kids are always welcome.'

The remainder of the Wright family present at the pub is Louise Wright who is a regular, especially on Friday nights, together with her sister Michelle Wright with her daughter, Tamara.

The bar manager and division two pool team captain is Jason Kitt. Jason has worked at the pub for almost four years and has been pool captain for different teams during the past three years.

He said: 'Friday and Saturday nights are the best nights, although every night is good. On Sunday there is a really good atmosphere with all the pool players here. Everyone gets on well. In the four years that I have worked here I have only seen minor scuffles as the doormen are so efficient. In the summer we always welcome the tourists and I know of several couples that come back here year after year.'

The Admiral Boscarn is a children and dog friendly pub, as long as they are well behaved. Alan and Mandy's dog, JD, is a Staffordshire bull terrier with a lovely temperament and the 'ideal pub dog'. Mandy and Alan explained: 'JD knows when the pub is open and shut and where people should and shouldn't be during those times. He keeps an eye on the beer garden for us as people tend to jump over the wall from the beach and in the summer he spends much of his time in the beer garden bar area with Alan.' JD comes into the main, downstairs bar during the late evenings when closing up and is a favourite of many. Another frequent visitor to the bar during the late evenings is Susie the parrot who comes downstairs and sits on people's shoulders. Mandy said: 'Susie said her first word last week which was 'Stop it!' as we always say that to Sammy, the other parrot.' Apart from JD, Susie and Sammy, Alan and Mandy also have three cats, one rabbit and two chinchillas.

Good atmosphere

Alan employees 11 bar staff, five doorpeople and two glass collectors, Danielle Sebbar from Kent moved to Looe to be near her mother. She has worked at the pub for a year and said: 'It's a good pub or else I wouldn't have stayed working here so long! There's always a good atmosphere and it's a great meeting place.'

Mark Mitchell from Looe is a regular at weekends. He said: 'There is a really good atmosphere here, and it's one of the best places to go in Looe,' for a good night out.

The Admiral Boscarn is mentioned in the guide book, 'Hidden Places of Cornwall', one of only three pubs mentioned in the area. Alan said: 'To get in this guide book you have to be asked. The researcher stayed in Looe for three months finding out about the place and asked us to be mentioned in it. The guides are sold all over, petrol stations, book shops even at Dover Port and the major airports.'

The building used to be the house of Admiral Boscarn and many of the original features remain, such as the stained glass windows at the back bearing Admiral Boscarn's coat of arms, and the staircase. The building was at one time a hotel but is now a thriving and busy meeting and partying place for Looe.