There is one non-negotiable element: an excellent landlady/lord – such as Carol Ross, who runs the Roscoe Head in Liverpool. It’s a cosy, welcoming place, full of comfortable corners to have a chat. It stands out in a city centre full of great places for a beer. Then there’s Ali Ross at the Coach and Horses in Soho, which is enjoying a new golden age having been taken on by Fuller’s a few years ago.

If I lived in Liverpool, the Roscoe Head might well be my favourite pub – or maybe The Lion Tavern, with its delightful “News Room”. If I were from Bradford, it would probably be The Corn Dolly, a cask-ale-and-carpet classic. But I live in south London, where pubs have endured a mixed time of it recently, so my favourite is the Blythe Hill Tavern in Catford.

It’s run by Con Riordan, who came to Britain from Limerick in 1974. Like all the best pubs, it has its quirks. The bar staff wear ties. There’s a lot of horse-racing paraphernalia on the walls, from fetching shots of jockeys like Pat Eddery and Lester Piggott to a Sporting Life front cover from 1981 reading: “A Lap of Honour – It Was That Easy For Shergar and Swinburn”. There are three rooms, TV sport, a weekly Irish music session, a huge back yard, great cask ale (not, alas, at £1.30 a pint). It’s got something for everything while retaining its own distinctive character. That’s the essence of a great pub.