Trevor Brooks, whose 'local' is The Carpenters' Arms, Soham, Cambridgeshire, is celebrating his success after growing the longest runner bean in the D. T. Brown National Pub Challenge and scooping the £100 prize with his 45cm long specimen.
The kitchen garden mail order company supplied packets of its runner bean 'Enorma' free of charge to public houses and social clubs throughout the UK, with a challenge to regulars to see who could grow the longest pod.
Second place went to Dave Evans of The Butchers Arms, Tilehurst, Reading, whose bean measured 44.5cm, with Dale Johnson of The AHVLA Social Club, Broughton, Preston, producing a specimen 38.7cm long in third place. The challenge originated when Carpenters' Arms landlady Alison Seymour told D. T. Brown of her regulars' intention to hold a competition to see who could grow the longest runner bean from the seed of its Enorma variety she was ordering. It gave the company's Tim Jeffries the idea for a national contest to discover which British pub or club could grow the longest specimen. "It seems poetic justice that Trevor from the Carpenters went on to win the national competition", observed Tim.
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