New comedy set in village is 'love letter to pubs'

The stars of a newly released comedy film set in a struggling rural pub have said it was "a real joy" to shoot in Somerset.

Mother's Pride, starring Martin Clunes and James Buckley, was filmed in the village of Norton St Philip and uses the Fleur de Lys as the setting for a fictional pub called the Drovers Arms.

The plot involves a grieving family running a struggling pub whose lives are changed when they begin brewing real ale. The pub unites a small but divided community in the feelgood film.

"It's nice really because the film is sort of a love letter to pubs and communities like that," said The Inbetweeners star Buckley, who plays the son of the pub's owner.

Residents of the small village also helped the cast and director to achieve the sense of a close-knit community needed to tell the story.

"I think they quite enjoyed it and thought it was quite fun. A few of them did get involved in the crowd scenes and stuff like that," said Buckley.

The film sees the family come together to turn their pub around and use home-brewed beer to enter the Great British Beer Awards, while also highlighting the real world issues affecting pubs.

Norton St Philip's other pub, the George Inn, acts as the setting for the protagonist's rival business.

Filming took place in the summer of 2025 and Somerset provided a bucolic backdrop, according to Doc Martin star Clunes.

"It was just lovely. It was last year's summer which was glorious and in the rolling hills of Somerset, it was a real joy," said Clunes, who plays the pub's owner.

Buckley added: "It's the type of place I would go on holiday and I remember seeing people and thinking 'do you know that you live on holiday?'"

However, the actors said they had to be careful around one local staple: cider.

"I love cider but it gives me really bad heartburn," said Buckley.

"I'm not allowed cider at home because it gives me opinions," added Clunes.

Mother's Pride was released in cinemas on Friday.

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