THIS traditional riverside pub sits snug as a captain's cabin where she lies anchored just off the tranquil banks of the Severn but it is music that gives this majestic old inn her heart and soul.
Ye Olde Anchor Inn in Upton is a beautiful, timber-framed pub full of crooked beams and soaked to its very bones with history, not merely surviving but thriving after everything from floods to the thunder of Civil War gunfire.
With something of the air of a cosy old galleon, this is a place of quirky nooks and intimate corners, each a veritable cabinet of curiosities for the eye to unlock from ship's wheels to duelling pistols.
Run by landlord Grahame Bunn, this traditional boozer in Upton High Street is front and centre when it comes to Upton's rich tapestry of festivals, whether your tastes tilt towards jazz, folk, blues or the still more eclectic Sunshine Festival.
A former landlord, Stuart McEwan, was one of those founding fathers who helped bring the Upton Blues Festival into being. The inaugural festival took place in July 2002 and since then the music shows no signs of stopping, rising instead to an inevitable crescendo.
Certainly, music has proved a beguiling Siren song which lures thousands to Upton's pubs, giving them a buoyancy which must be the envy of other establishments attempting to navigate the fickle and treacherous tides of the British economy.
When I arrive Mr Bunn, who is also chairman of the Blues Festival, is busy swabbing the proverbial decks after a busy shift in the kitchen but he is soon enough in expansive and congenial mood, talking about the fascinating recent history of the pub.
He says Upton has certainly bucked the national trend of pubs closing down in Britain. The Anchor is no sinking ship, unless you count the copious amount of pints sunk by the customers.
During the Upton Blues Festival between July 18 and 20, Mr Bunn, 65, says the Anchor sold 12 barrels (18 gallons each) across five days as visitors and locals alike enjoyed 190 free gigs across the town.
"They say it's around two pubs closing a day at the moment. I have been here since 2000 and we have gained three licenced premises in this town.
"I don't know what the secret is. We only have a population of around 2,500 people so it's not just locals, it's the visitors. It's phenomenal. I can't believe how many pubs there are in this town.
"Upton has massively bucked the trend. There's some places struggle to keep one pub open," he said.
Four real ales are available - the popular Butty Bach (Wye Valley Brewery), Tribute, Speckled Hen and Twin Coast which has helped the pub secure its place in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide for four years in a row. Traditional 'good quality' hearty pub food is also one of the pub's draws.
Although born and bred in London, Mr Bunn is now an adopted son of Worcestershire, having also run another Upton pub, The King's Head between 2000 and 2012 (he took over the running of the Anchor in 2012).
The pub (and others in Upton) have played host to the then Prince Charles, now our king, former Prime Minister David Cameron and other big name politicians including former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Hilary Benn. The visits of such high-profile figures are often triggered by flooding events, particularly in 2007 when the inside of the Anchor was flooded.
However, the town now enjoys the protection of flood defences, opened in July 2012 by Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire and now of course a Dame, and Mayor Andrea Morgan, defending 64 properties including the town's riverside pubs.
The £4.4 million scheme consisted of two phases, protecting the most at risk properties in New Street and Waterside. However, it is the framed photo of Willie Carson Mr Bunn makes a beeline for - there is even a photo of the celebrated jockey pointing at the very picture when he visited the Anchor although, for the moment, it proves elusive.
The date on the pub says '1601' but Mr Bunn suspects a little 'poetic licence' and believes the date of its construction may be ever so slightly later.
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Certainly, a local guide still available at Tudor House by B .E. Fowler says it was in this pub that Oliver Cromwell surprised the Royalist guard and found them drinking which resulted in a skirmish in the build-up to the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651.
It is said that pot shots were taken at 'The Pepperpot', the distinctive tower with its hexagonal lantern and copper cupola, which was damaged during the skirmish and musket balls have been found in the town (in Hanley Road car park).
In the Anchor itself are what appear to be duelling pistols which seem a pertinent reminder of Upton's rich and colourful past.
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