HE may have left his snooker hall days behind - but Gary Penrose is enjoying a spectacular big break.

After 26 years at the Cueball Club in James Street, Gary and his partner Linda swapped the baize for the bar and landed on their feet.

They took over The Marcia in Bishopthorpe early last year and recognition is now coming thick and fast. York’s Campaign For Real Ale branch has just named it as their country pub of the season for winter 2014, and now they are also in the running for a national accolade: the Punch Partner of The Year award, run by the pub’s owners, Punch Taverns.

Bishopthorpe has long been disproportionately blessed with pubs, boasting three very good locals as well as an active sports and social club. It’s true that much of that success is thanks to the nearby crematorium, wakes accounting for a sizeable proportion of the pubs’ trade. But it would be unjust to characterise the pubs as no more than convenient function rooms. All three pubs are excellent in their own right, and many villagers elsewhere would crave just one pub of such quality, never mind three.

The Marcia appears to be riding on the crest of a wave though, buoyed by the new enthusiasm that new blood brings. Gary and Linda have been here for around a year and ten months now, and have clearly made their mark, not least on the beers.

Previously, says Gary, there was no great variety on the bar. But now they are putting an ever-greater focus on real ale, and the customers are enjoying it. There are six cask ales on at any time – Roosters Yankee, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord and Leeds Pale, as well as three others that change regularly.

When I popped in last Monday the three guests were Pride of Pendle by Moorhouse's; Spellbound, the Hallowe’en special by Ossett, and Dark Masquerade by the relentlessly-brilliant Half Moon Brewery in Ellerton, just over the Derwent into East Yorkshire.

The food menu is fairly simple, with a range of pub classics (pies, burgers and the like) and a few novel options as well. I would have leapt at the deep-fried black pudding topped with bacon and a poached egg, had I not already eaten. Even having done so, I was sorely tempted.

Instead though, I stuck to the beers, beginning with a pint of the Spellbound. I vaguely envisaged that as a Hallowe’en beer it would be dark. On the contrary, it was pale, crisp and refreshing – classic Ossett. The Slovenian hops gave it a pleasant citrus flavour, but I had now set my mind on something darker, so I moved next to familiar territory, Half Moon’s Dark Masquerade. This is a black, rich beer with liquorice and chocolate flavours, the perfect beer for this time of year.

Alongside the cask ales, Gary and Linda have one rotating “craft keg” line, currently occupied by Meantime’s Yakima Red. Alongside those, the rest of the bar was taken up by the ubiquitous John Smith’s Smooth, Stowford Press, Guinness, Carling, Fosters, Peroni and Stella.

It is rare these days to find anyone who sings the praise of the large pub companies such as Enterprise Inns and Punch, but Gary and Linda seem to be among the beneficiaries – newcomers to the trade who say have been helped to build the pub into the business they want it to be.

They have a quiz every Wednesday and are in the process of arranging a “meet the brewer” night with Timothy Taylor’s, to give locals an insight into the origins of their beers.

Whether that appeals, or whether you just want a good pint in a welcoming local, The Marcia is well worth a look, and you could do a lot worse than make it the starting point for a three-pronged adventure, taking in The Woodman and The Ebor as well.

• The Ackhorne in St Martin's Lane has a bonfire-themed beer festival today.