BREWERS Wadworth are to create a special beer for the 450th anniversary of the oldest pub in Devizes ready for a celebration on April 30 and May 1.

Wadworth will name the beer Talbot's Tipple which is doubly fitting as the landlord and landlady of The White Bear are Fiona and Geoff Talbot and the pub was once called The Talbot. The first recorded landlord of the pub on the corner of Monday Market Street goes back to 1567.

Mrs Talbot, who took over the pub with her husband in 2012, said: "We are very excited about having our own beer to mark the occasion. We are looking forward to a really good weekend and have a lot of different events lined up."

The Wadworth shire horses will be in attendance for an hour from noon on April 30 and there will also be a performance by the Devizes Jubilee Morris Men.

Mrs Talbot said: "The shire will have been at a show the day before so should be looking particularly glossy and splendid when they come down to us."

She would like people to wear historical costume for the celebration and also for anyone who has old pictures of the pub to let her have them for an exhibition.

People who turn up in costume will receive a free glass of Talbot's Tipple.

She said: "We are talking about proper historical costumes from the Victorian period or earlier not the 70s and 80s but any photographs would be good.

"When we took over the pub there was not really any historical pictures or other memorabilia left here."

The couple are looking forward to visiting the brewery when their special ale is created. Mrs Talbot said: "It will be exciting to see it being brewed."

Other events over the weekend will include a quiz and live music.

According to local historian John Girvan, the White Bear has a strange history. When it was known as The Talbot, it was an old drovers' inn. Once it was visited by an old lady who wanted to stable her horse.

On leading the horse through the front passage, it slipped and fell into a cellar, the door of which had been left open. The horse died and the owner disclosed she was a witch and would curse the cellar, vowing it would always be dark, dank and useless.

The landlord circumvented the curse by growing mushrooms in the cellar.