Now this is a great way to pull in voters, not to mention customers.

The Herald & Post doesn’t encourage drink-voting, but a visit to a polling station followed by a pint is surely a winning strategy.

The Royal Oak in Lower Farringdon could be the king of polling stations as it’s one of two pubs in East Hampshire which offered that combination on general election day.

And the arrangement was definitely good for business with a few voters popping into the renovated pub on the A32 throughout the day.

Landlord Barry Pethers was happy to take part in the democratic process by allowing a section of the watering hole to become a polling station, despite having a slightly rude awakening on the day.

He said: “I think it’s been good having a polling station here but it wasn’t good for my mental health this morning (Thursday, July 4) when I had to get up at 5am to let them in, as we had a jam night the night before.

“We’ve had a few people come in because it of it, though, and that’s good because we’ve only just painted the pub and freshened it up. Quite a few people have stopped by.”

Mr Pethers took over the pub in March so the arrangement with the polling station was a good way to attract new customers and show off the renovated hostelry.

The other pub which doubled up as a polling station was The Three Horseshoes in Worldham.