The new head chef at Beckermet's White Mare is helping in the push for a national pub award.

Norma Bell was previously the head chef at The French Connection, Platform 9 and Lulu's in St Bees, and has trained in Germany and Thailand.

In 2016, the White Mare was named Best Pub in Cumbria at the National Pub and Bar Awards and owner, Dianne Irving, was voted Best Newcomer in Britain at the Great British Pub Awards.

The pub is currently through to the second round of the Great British Pub Awards 2017.

Dianne said: “We were delighted to recruit Norma and since then our food offering has gone from strength to strength.

"She has transformed our menu with some of her personal favourites including fish cooked “en Papilotte” with chorizo, roast Barbary duck breast on wilted pak choi and passionfruit and orange sauce and, our current best seller, Thai Red Curry. She has also kept some of our more traditional pub favourites on the menu."

Along with the rest of the team at the White Mare, Norma is preparing for a busy summer.

She said: "We really are gearing up now and this year’s £25,000 investment in state of the art ovens will be much appreciated by all the team.

"We have been fully booked over the last few weekends, which is great and the team is working brilliantly.

And she added: "It has been lovely to get such positive comments from customers, some of whom I have known for a long time from my days in St Bees."