THE King of Prussia on Town Quay, Fowey, is a traditional-style inn, owned by St Austell Brewery which has been managed by Rob and Angie Husband for around three and a half years.

Before taking over the management of the pub Rob and Angie ran the tripper boats and self-drive boats from the quay for five years.

Angie moved to the area from Hertfordshire 15 years ago and she worked as a florist as her parents had a florist shop in Fowey. She is also a fully qualified riding instructor.

Rob was born at St Blazey Gate and worked as a welder all over the country before coming to Fowey.

The King of Prussia is built on the site of a much older house and it dates from the late 17th Century. The inn is thought to have been named after the smuggler and privateer John Carter, nicknamed the King of Prussia when he was a boy, who allegedly resided at the inn in the 1780s.

The sign outside the pub shows John Carter in all his finery on one side and in his smuggling clothes on the other!

Another theory is that the real King of Prussia visited the inn, which Rob commented, could be feasible as there is evidence of his visiting Cornwall.

The King of Prussia has also been known as the Kings Arms and the Kings Hotel and since 1765 there have been 30 landlords. In 1886 the original building was demolished and the rebuilding of the inn saw it changed from two to three storeys. With the exception of the front steps built by Walter Hicks in 1909 the facade remains much the same to this day.

The lease of the King of Prussia was sold to Walter Hicks for £800 in 1895. Walter was the founder of Hicks and Company, later becoming St Austell Brewery. The brewery holds the lease to this day, while the building and land still belong to the Treffry family.

The bar was moved upstairs to the first floor around 12 years ago. The restaurant and breakfast room is downstairs, on street level, and they can cater for parties up to 20.

The pub is open all day, all year round, and has six en-suite bed and breakfast rooms, four being family rooms and two double rooms. The breakfast, lunch and dinner menus are designed by Rob and Angie and the chef, Ian Woodward, who is helped in the kitchen by his second Richard Matthews, Angie's son.

The ingredients for the food are mainly local, with fresh fish being a speciality. Angie explained that St Austell Brewery promotes Cornish food and if she calls her supplier of meat it is possible to find out which farm the meat came from. St Austell Brewery tries to source all the products used at the pub from England and as much as possible from Cornwall. The mussels and oysters that the pub uses come straight from the Fowey River and the lamb is bred locally.

The specials boards display seasonal dishes and other dishes that wouldn't normally be cooked everyday.

Chef Ian Woodward from Fowey has been working at the pub since April and previously worked at The Globe in Fowey and in the French Alps.

The pub offers not only the regular beer and real ales such as Tribute, HSD and Tinners but also a wide selection of wines from around the world with two wines of the month. Various coffees are also served up.

The pub has a gas fire in the main bar and a pot stove in the pool and darts area which keeps the room warm and comfortable.

Quizzes

The pub has two pool teams in the Fowey league and although there is a darts board available for use there is no team.

There are also two quiz teams who used to play in the Fowey quiz league before it finished and now various quizzes are held, along with other activities to raise money for the lifeboats as Rob is a helmsman on the inshore D Class lifeboats and a crew member and emergency mechanic on the larger Trent class lifeboats. A customer bought Rob a sign which is now above the door leading to the kitchens which says: 'Lifeboats this way' with an arrow pointing the correct way to the lifeboats.

The King of Prussia employees 11 staff during the winter months and 25 during the summer.

There are two housekeepers at the pub, Gilly and Stella, who have been working at the pub for many years and Angie commented: 'They treat the rooms they look after as their own, the sheets have to be folded just so.'

Dave Curtis runs a carpet and upholstery cleaning business in Fowey and was in the pub with his springer spaniel terrier, Yoda, named after the Star Wars character.

Dave celebrated his 42nd birthday the day before the Cornish Times visited and was planning an all weekend 'birthday bash' mainly at the pub!

The pub welcomes dogs as long as they are well behaved and on a lead. There is a dog water bowl at the side of the bar and doggy treats are available.

Rob and Angie have a 15-year-old springer spaniel, Clyde, although he does not come in the main bar.

Having lunch with Dave was Sarah Wateridge who has worked at an estate agents in Fowey for the past four years and lives in Par.

Warm

Dave commented: 'Rob and Angie make everyone feel so welcome and the food is always excellent.'

Jeremy and Nicola Hawke, on holiday from London for a long weekend agreed that their first opinions of the pub were: 'It's nice and warm with wonderful views of the river.'

Also staying in Fowey for a long weekend were Colin and Susan Evans from South Wales.

They were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary and agreed: 'We got our priorities right - to the pub first before the hotel!'

Another couple taking a weekend break with two-year-old Jake were Andrew Pember and Vicky Jones from Bristol.

They commented: 'It was very welcoming when we came in.'

Heather O'Pray has lived in Fowey for over three years and came to the pub with her dog, Susie, an eight year old lurcher.

She said: 'The staff are always nice and it's a lovely atmosphere .'

Saturday night is live music night at the pub.