LANDLORDS across the county are counting down the days until the grand finale of our search to find Suffolk's Pub of the Year.We'll be calling last orders on our mammoth six-month quest to find the best boozer with the final at the Odeon cinema in Ipswich on Wednesday December 18.

LANDLORDS across the county are counting down the days until the grand finale of our search to find Suffolk's Pub of the Year.

We'll be calling last orders on our mammoth six-month quest to find the best boozer with the final at the Odeon cinema in Ipswich on Wednesday December 18.

The top awards will be handed out at the cinema before an exclusive screening

of the new Lord of the Rings film: The Two Towers.

The second part of the trilogy will be THE film to watch over the Christmas period with a multi-million pound budget and jaw-dropping special effects.

It will be the perfect backdrop for the drama and excitement of discovering which pub our judges deem to be the best.

There are twelve categories in total in which we will announce six regional awards and six awards for specific categories.

Regional categories include specific awards for Felixstowe, Ipswich, Woodbridge and Hadleigh as well as those for east and west Suffolk.

Specific category awards will be handed out for the Best Food Pub, Best Family Pub, Best Community Pub, Best Small Pub, Best Village Pub and the keenly contested Best Real Ale Pub.

Our winning landlords in each of the twelve categories, plus those pubs which narrowly miss out on scooping the top gong in each section will watch the film on its opening night in Ipswich.

But before the curtain goes down on the new movie our special guest will hand out the award to the overall winner of The Evening Star Pub of the Year 2002.

Full details of the award winners will be in the Evening Star the following day.