Who says local pubs are dying?

Many pubs are calling time on their business, but Ben Bentley paid a visit to a quirky free house on the Shropshire border which seems immune from the trends of the modern world.

Olive Cliff stands at the spot where her family have stood for generations - at the small hatch in the doorway that separates her own sitting room from the bar.

Olive, 73, is the landlady of The Anchor Inn at High Offley near Newport, a tiny parlour pub on the east Shropshire border that has been run by her family for more than 100 years and whose interior of quarry tiles and wooden bench seats has remained pretty much unchanged from when it opened in 1830.

Until last year Olive fetched beer in jugs from the cellar next to her front room, then poured it into glasses. It is only because "it wears your knees out" that pumps have been fitted to cut out the narrow cellar stairs, but Olive still serves from jugs and if customers want a pint from the barrel her daughter Elaine is happy to oblige.

The Anchor is, for once, a pub with a good news story. At a time when ever more pubs are calling time on business this free house appears quirkily immune to the trends of the modern world. In fact at a time when many offer longer opening hours this pub only opens at weekends in winter.

It begs the question: how local is your local?

For Dave Clare it's a 60-mile round trip on his trusty bicycle just for a pint.

Dave, who plonks himself down at a corner table of The Anchor after riding up from Wolverhampton, gets his breath back with a well-deserved pint of Wadworths 6X and says:

"These days these kind of pubs are hard to find. They have history and character. They don't have a radio or a television and they don't need them because it's a pub where you come to talk.

"Look, here we are beside a real open fire and we are talking. If someone is on their own in here, they are not on their own very long." You can see why people like Dave brave such journeys - the canalside inn which is cunningly disguised as a small cottage is surely one of the pub trade's best kept secrets.

But how long can pubs like this resist the winds of change? Even though there is no sign of last orders being called here, there have been approaches from bigger pub companies eyeing a takeover.

In the best traditions of keeping the pub in the family, the only person Olive will be handing

The Anchor to when the time comes is her daughter Elaine.The illustrious history of The Anchor is recorded in a scrapbook compiled by the family. It tells how the pub first opened for trade in 1830 at a time when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction of the Shropshire Union Canal was opened here.

Beer was delivered by horse and at 3d a pint thirsty boat workers would come banging on the door of the pub at 6am.

The document tells how Lily Pascal, the great grandmother of Olive's late husband Graham, was running the pub by 1903 and that most of her children and grandchildren were born here.

Over a chat in the bar, locals describe Lily who ran the pub for more than 60 years as "a character who always wore wellingtons and a pinny".

Graham himself, who died in 1986, was born on these very premises and later took over as landlord in the late 1960s. Cuttings from Olive's scrapbook tell how in the post war years, with the decline of the canal system, the pub did not

pay. However, today the canal is thriving as a pleasure boat destination. Today it remains a popular haunt for those who can find it and over the years has become a local for the rich and famous looking for a traditional boozer where they can come in, sup a pint and enjoy a chat without all the trappings of celebrity.

A flip through the guest book reveals testimonials from Ozzy Osbourne, actress Penelope Keith and actor Tony Britton. Apparently Kate Winslet's sister is a fan, regularly camping at the site to the rear and popping in for refreshment.

A cutting from a local newspaper during the time when Olive's husband was landlord describes The Anchor as "the strangest pub" in the area. In the article Graham said: "My aim is to keep it exactly as it was in grandmother's day with all the original furniture and no modern pumping methods."

And apart from the slight concession to the latter, Olive is continuing that aim. The next chapter in her precious scrapbook has yet to be written, but with the plan for Olive's daughter to eventually take the reins it should ensure that the future of the inn lives up to its name and remains happily anchored to its illustrious past.

Shropshire canal boater Mal Edwards, formerly the lock keeper at Grindley Brook near Whitchurch, has made The Anchor his local for the past four decades. He describes how 'locals' regularly take out guitars for an ad hoc sing-song.

"If people want entertainment here they make it themselves," says Mal. "I come here to see Olive and a few friends. People never say 'I'm going to the Anchor, they say 'I'm going to Olive's'."

Finishing his pint, he adds: "Not many pubs are local now, but some are essential."