Devon museum showcasing 'time capsule' pub reopens for season

The earliest mention of The Valiant Soldier as a pub was in 1813.

A museum showcasing a "time capsule" pub from the 1960's has reopened for the season.

The Valiant Soldier museum in Buckfastleigh shuts annually from November to February.

The museum enables visitors to see the untouched pub which contains "money, glasses and beer" from 1965.

Rod Denley-Jones, trustee from the Buckfastleigh Trust, said the pub is a place "older people would recognise from their youth".

Rod said the pub became The Valiant Soldier in about 1813.

Mr Denley-Jones said it is understood the landlord and landlady bought the pub from Whitbread Brewery in the 1950's.

He said: "They were closing a lot of pubs at that time because they just weren't profitable.

'Fascinating time capsule'

"They took the license away and the landlord and landlady Mr and Mrs Roberts bought the pub."

Mr Denley-Jones said Mrs Roberts moved upstairs when her husband died.

"They closed the downstairs and left it as it was on the day they pulled the last pint."

Mr Denley-Jones said the bar within the pub remains "exactly as they left it with money in the till".

He said bottles remain on the optics and beer remains in the barrels.

"All the pub games are there," he said.

"It's a really fascinating times capsule of the 1960s."