New beer in name of World Conker Championship winner
David Jakins, aka ‘King Conker’, has been honoured with a new beer in his name
A Northamptonshire pub is honouring the winner of the Men's World Conker Championship (WCC) after he has been cleared of cheating and finally claimed victory after 47 years of competing.
82-year-old, David Jakins was accused of cheating when a steel conker, painted brown, was found in the veteran competitor's pocket.
After a long process of looking at video recording, judges concluded that ‘it would be near impossible for Mr Jakins to have swapped the conkers unnoticed’ and has formally been cleared of any wrongdoing.
The WCC surprised by the national and international media coverage of the allegations, which has now led to Mr Jakins having a beer brewed in his name called ‘King Conker’.
The beer is being brewed at Nene Valley Brewery in Oundle and will be going on sale at The Shuckburgh Arms in Southwick.
Pub landlord of The Shuckburgh Arms, Neil Horton, said: “We felt really sorry for him because if you imagine you’re 82-years-old, played for 47 years and someone calls you a cheat, and he took it all in good grace because he knew he hadn’t cheated.
“The idea came from my wife Hilly and from Dick and Nick at the brewery, to do something special for him. So, we have a lovely traditional bitter of the bar now named after David and it goes on sale tomorrow.”
We asked Mr Horton, if David has tried the beer and replied: “He has and he loves it!
“David pops in every now and then for a pint and thoroughly enjoys and pint of beer and if you look back through our archive of photographs, David has a wonderful conker walking stick with a special receptacle to hold a pint of bitter. So, he’s well-known for holding a beer whilst he’s playing.”