PUB bosses are raising their glasses after retaining a top award.

The Red Lion, in Manningtree, has been named as a runner-up in the Observer Food Monthly magazine’s 2014 Best Place to Drink award. Now in their 11th year, the awards aim to celebrate the best in British food and drink.

Customers and readers of the magazine vote for their favourite pubs, and landlord Thomas West is delighted to have won.

“For a small business in a small town, it is phenomenal for us to receive this sort of accolade,” he said. “It is a reader-voted award, so for someone to put us forward is great.

“We were described as a cosy pub with a selection of guest ales and ciders from local breweries, which is great.”

The Red Lion was also honoured by the magazine last year, and is the only Essex pub to be given the title.