From Annie Walker to Alfie Moon licensees are always at the heart of the action in our favourite soaps. There are the jack the lads like Alfie or the hardmen like Den Watts but what does it take to make great publicans in real life?

LEWIS COWEN went to find out at Wadworth's new training school which opened in Devizes this week.

ON TV the pub is the hub of community activity, but in the real world falling standards and rising prices have eroded the support for the local.

But Devizes brewer Wadworth's is determined to reverse the trend in their state-of-the-art training centre for licensees in the former White Lion pub next to its brewery in Northgate Street.

Although it has been up and running since November, the centre was officially opened on Monday by John Melia of the British Institute of Innkeeping.

Charles Bartholomew, chairman and managing director of the family-owned brewery, praised Danny Leonard-Williams, who is responsible for licensee recruitment and training at Wadworth's, for his insistence on using the pub for training.

He said: "We needed to refurbish the place. It was crumbling to bits. It was being used for storage but we felt it wasn't being used to its full potential.

"Danny was already running courses for licensees, and prospective licensees, at colleges and pubs, but when he heard what we were doing, he got onto me with a long list of what was needed, and put together a plan for running it."

Four months later and the centre is complete with a training cellar, seminar rooms, a training bar and a main area where lecturers can use audio-visual aids and which can double as a conference room.

Mr Melia said: "You only have to look at TV soaps like EastEnders, Emmerdale and Coronation Street to see that the pub is the centre of the community. That's the way it should be.

"Because supermarket beer has become cheaper there is a tendency to drink at home now.

"If we want to invite people to leave the comfort of their own home and pay more for their drink and food, we have to offer a quality of product and welcome that is better than anything they will get at home."

Mr Melia applauded Wadworth's foresight in opening the training centre. He said: "Selection is the first thing. You have got to have the right personality for the right pub. But training is almost as important.

"The key skill is recognising what the customers want and making sure that they get it. It is a very difficult job and we want to be able to offer the status of a professional to licensees.

"They have to be able to do so many things equally as well. They need to be able to handle VAT and tax returns.

"They need to know about keeping beer, keeping wine, keeping food, handling staff, and, of course, making the pub the centre of the community what you could call a community leader."

Lorraine and Francis McGuinness were on the course that was running on Monday and were delighted with how much they had learned in a short time.

Mr McGuinness said: "I have run a pub before, but up in Scotland.

"Things are a bit different up there, but I wasn't prepared for how much you need to know.

"Just in employment law, there are a whole raft of regulations you have to be aware of. For example, you can't just fire somebody on the spot, no matter what they've done."

Serving a decent pint of beer can make the difference between an empty pub and one that is bursting at the seams.

Trade quality brewer for Wadworth's, Ian Skipper, explained: "The basic business of keeping beer is very simple, but you have no idea in how many ways people get it wrong.

"The main thing is temperature. It has to be kept cool so that it doesn't go off and we now have well designed systems for keeping it cool."

Wadworth's hopes that it will soon be able to open up its facilities to people outside its own organisation but at the moment only new licensees and prospective licensees are eligible for the induction courses.

The courses are taken by Tim Hore, tenant of the St James's Tavern, Winchester, and Tommy Tucker, landlord of the Royal Oak at Frome.