There are two bars at the thriving Trot Inn in Torpoint and - especially during the evenings - two distinct groups of people who revel in its atmosphere.

The front, main bar, is home to innumerable locals who gather there to meet each other, have a chat and a light-hearted 'debate' or two, watch a sporting event on the special television screen, and enjoy a beer and a chat to landlords Len and Sandy Mitchell. The back bar is where the younger element of The Trot's extensive clientele gather, together with staff from HMS Raleigh and recruits attending the Naval base. Entertainment is provided there in the form of duos and single performers at the weekends and often during the weekdays, and ultra violet lights have been installed along with other neat touches such as luminous pool balls. An impressive range of cocktails is also available. These include a Jelly Bean (vodka, gin, grenadine, cider, orange and lemonade) and a Left Handed Bohemian Camel (gin, vodka, Tia Maria, Bacardi and Babycham in a pint glass topped off with coke).

Len and Sandy took over the lease at The Trot Inn eight years ago on March 7. They only intended to be there for six months, but stayed to completely gut the premises and refurbish them. Len was returning home, as he was born and bred in the town. However, he had spent many years in corporate life, including being divisional director of Quickfit in Derby and a managing director in Bristol. He had also embarked on consultancy work which had taken him to New Zealand, California and Chicago. But in the end he decided to settle for a more mellow pace of life, and turned his sights back to Cornwall.

The renovations he and Sandy decided upon to transform the pub included the introduction of chrome ceilings, which lighten the effect of the room when reflecting the lights from the bar, and the special screen which will definitely be given an airing this weekend when the Six Nations rugby starts. Len, despite liking soccer and having turned out for Torpoint in the past, is an ultra keen rugby supporter. The Trot Inn sponsors the Torpoint and St Columba rugby team, who number among its customers, and also arranges pub trips to watch Cornwall when they are playing - definitely when they make Twickenham trips.

Links with the forces are very strong. Not only do many from Raleigh consider The Trot the place to relax, they are likely in the future to be joined by those from the Submarine school, which arrived this week, HMS Cambridge gunnery school which is moving down and the artificer school. Also the Mitchells' son, Mathew, who is in the Light Infantry, won an award for an 'exemplary act of gallantry' in l996 while caught in machinegun fire in Bosnia, aged l9. He turned to face the Serbs, who had started shooting, and returned fire until the rest of his foot patrol reached cover. Then he ran into the open to divert Nato vehicles away from ambush. The couple's other son, 18-year-old Gregory, is also to join the army. Their daughter, Hayley, often helps them by serving behind the bar at The Trot.

Dart players

The pub boasts some very good darts players. Its men's team were undefeated last season in the Torpoint and district league and are joint top this season, while the ladies, who play in the Plymouth Trophyman League, have gone on a much longer run, undefeated. They boast many excellent players, including Teresa Osborne who has played for the county. Next week top darts player, crafty Cockney Eric Bristow, is due to travel to the pub to play 20 of the locals and give exhibition games.

Jim Gibbs, who lives in Torpoint, is a regular customer who enjoys The Trot's general chit-chat, and the sport shown on the big screen. Two removals men joined him in the bar on Tuesday lunchtime. Despite being from Portsmouth they had visited The Trot before - for a glass of coca-cola as they were driving - and remembered the hospitality of the landlord. Also at the bar was Michael O'Mahony, who lives nearby and says there is no better place at which to sink a pint of Guinness. He was a regular before the Mitchells transformed the premises, and said it has been much enhanced from the old days.

Meetings

Making the most of the lunchtime calm in the back bar were members of the Torpoint Chamber of Commerce. Monthly meetings etc are often held there, and praise for the pub came from secretary Michael Briggs and chairman Alan Brima-combe, who is also secretary of the Torpoint Community Development Forum. One of the Chamber's recent successes were the town's Christmas lights, which are improving year by year.

Thirty years ago the pub was called the East Cornwall Wine and Spirits Vaults. Before that it was The Masons, and around the end of the l8th century The Stonemasons. It became The Trots because 'trots' was the name given to the area where the Naval shops berthed - but the Mitchells have changed the connotation and its sign now shows a horse and cart trotting out for the day. In much the same way a vast number of locals now trot along on two feet to one of the pub's bars to relax in the best of surroundings.