This week's Pub of the Week is the Castle Inn, Usk.

The pub, in Twyn Square, is run by chef Matthew Dawkins and his partner Charlotte George.

The award-winning pub re-pened on Monday, August 3 following the lockdown.

Matthew said: "We are very much back open for business but life is different and we do ask for visitors to help in our procedures. We are currently recommending all visitors book tables to avoid disappointment. The Castle Inn has currently been fully booked for all dinner services both in the beer garden and the restaurant."

This year the Castle Inn picked up the title of Welsh Pub of The Year from Prestige Business Awards. It is also a past winner of the Pub Restaurant of The Year and Chef of The Year in the V Awards.

Matthew said: "We try to meet the needs of everyone with a varied menu.

"We are family and dog friendly throughout. We even have our very own pub dog Pie.

"Nothing is too much trouble and we simply love meeting people from varied walks of life.

"Our locals are very friendly and are always on hand to recommend places of interest and choices off the menu to new visitors. We take pride in our beautiful beer garden and features throughout the pub."

Lunch is served from noon to 2.30pm and dinner is served from 6pm to 9pm Tuesday to Sunday (excluding Sun evenings).

Matthew said: "We offer all the usual pub classics and while we don’t currently operate our usual A La Carte menu, we have daily specials such as our very popular Slow Roasted Belly Pork with Black Pudding Mash and Cider Cream. We highly recommend our Castle Trio to any first-time visitors. This best seller consists of a mini cod, mini beef burger and mini pie with chips."

He said: "Last year we held our first music festival over bank holiday weekend in August. This was a huge hit and something we were looking forward to hosting again this year. Due to current restrictions we are not hosting any outdoor or indoor live music but we can’t wait to enjoy local artists again very soon.

"We sadly no longer show live sport but many of our locals will give you the odd tip on the horses. Football banter can always be overheard and Usk RFC are frequent visitors. We can’t wait for rugby season to return."

During lockdown Matthew and Charlotte did all they could to keep the business operating.

Matthew said: "We offered a takeaway service seven-days-a-week, delivering locally and offering collection from the pub.

"We continue to offer takeaways daily’s but kindly ask customers to collect only. We thoroughly enjoyed trying to help people locally and for some where the only point of contact with the outside word during lockdown. We also refurbished the property as much as possible and spent many hours nursing our beer garden to the best of health. The kitchen now have their very own mini herb garden they pick from daily."

The Castle Inn offers a wide range of drinks available on tap and bottled beers, soft drinks galore.

Matthew said: "Our wine list changes daily and, we will be honest, this is one area we have improved on significantly during lockdown. I suppose we did have four months to sample wines worldwide. We are delighted to also now stock a small amount of speciality wine from White Castle in Monmouth."

And what makes the Castle Inn pub stand out from the crowd?

Matthew said: "I’d like to say we don’t pretend to be anything other than a traditional local pub. We very much lean on the side of quality over quantity and all our food is prepared fresh and all dishes are homemade.

"We have a wonderful array of staff of all ages. You will always be greed with a smile. No matter how busy we are we’ll try our best to fit you in. Our staff are a credit to us from our chefs, our waiters and waitresses and our two wonderful house keepers. There is no doubt we wouldn’t be where we are without them. Every award is won as a team."