A PUB landlord has issued a "use it or lose it" plea so that Ledbury can continue to buck the national trend of pub closures.
Jonathan Kaye, landlord of the Prince of Wales on Church Lane, said customers need to continue supporting the town's pubs as they continue to face financial pressures.
"A lot of people are saying pubs have got too expensive," he said. "Beer has gone up by 20 to 30 per cent.
"People say they can buy it cheap in Tesco but you can't get a nice warm atmosphere and sit down in the middle of Tesco and drink it."
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Despite the challenges, he said Ledbury pubs appear to be doing better than elsewhere, with a steady flow of customers to the town's seven pubs.
"I think Ledbury is on a bit of a crest of a wave at the moment," he said. "Ledbury has twice as many pubs as the national average but you do need to get out and use them.
He attributed the success to a core group of regulars, who travel from across Herefordshire.
"From our perspective, we have got a good core group of regulars and some of those people don't live locally," he said.
"I think that's a Herefordshire thing, people do still go out to pubs."
Mr Kaye said he has a rule that he closes the doors of the Prince of Wales at 11pm everyday and anyone who is already in the pub can stay until midnight.
"Only once have we closed the doors with nobody in the pub," he said.
He said he is also optimistic about the prospect of a new venue in the town with a Mr D Cartwright having recently submitted a planning application to convert the ground floor of Ledbury Mini Market into a taproom.
"Ledbury is lucky with a great range of busy successful pubs without a bad one amongst them," he said "And with the Weavers application, there will probably be another."
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