A Westhoughton pub is toasting a record second win as the North-west Community Pub of the year.

The Red Lion was chosen for the second year running thanks to landlord George Tipton's hard work for the town.

He receives a cheque for £1,000 to divide between different charities.

He has already raised thousands of pounds for worthy causes.

The 56-year-old even organises a special luncheon club for the elderly once a week, called Red Lion Seniors.

George and his wife Georgina have run the pub in Wigan Road for six years.

They didn't think they had much of a chance of winning the award, sponsored by the Brewers and Retail Licensees' Association with the trade newspaper The Licensee and Morning Advertiser.

George said: "When I sent off the forms I thought: "I won't win but I might as well give it a go. I was really surprised."

The luncheon club members has subsidised meals at the pub and a Christmas meal, which is so popular it has to be held at the town's Carnegie Hall.

The pub has helped to raise money towards a motorised wheelchair for Emma Hall, a young woman stricken with severe arthritis.

It is the second time George has raised money for a wheelchair - the year before, he collected cash towards a wheelchair for a disabled 10-year-old boy.

George also organises the five-a-side football at the Westhoughton Summer Show, takes children on trips, including visits to the pantomime at Christmas and arranges trips to the races for pub regulars.

He and Georgina have won Greenall's pub of the month award twice and won the brewery's Heart of the Community Award three times.

They now go forward to the national finals in London on April 22.

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