A VETERAN who became the landlord of a city pub for twenty years, has died aged 84.

Ken Warmington served in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry before taking on The Chester Arms in East Oxford.

He transformed the pub, changing its name temporarily to the Royal Green Jacket and decorating it in honour of the regiment.

The pub promoted Aunt Sally and was popular with all-comers during his 20 years at the helm.

Ken Warmington was born on June 15, 1932 in the Radcliffe Infirmary, Woodstock Road to parents Ernie, who worked at the Pressed Steel factory, and Kathleen.

He grew up in Oxford but after several episodes of truancy, he was sent to Desford Boys School in Leicester around the outbreak of the Second World War aged just six.

He absconded several times to see his father which resulted in canings from the headmaster.

At this time he developed a love of cricket and also joined the Leicester Cathedral choir.

He returned to Oxford and, with his parents split up, moved in with his father and got his first job helping a local cobbler.

At 17 he signed up for national service - joining the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, his "home and family" for the next four years.

After training at Fermington, he served during the Suez crisis and later in South Africa and South America.

He left the forces in 1953 and worked at the Salisbury Hotel in London but missing his father, Ken sought work in Oxfordshire and he found a job at Weston Manor where he would meet his future wife, Mary.

The couple married in 1959 and living in a North Oxford house Mary was looking after, they had two sons Chris and Robin.

After a short spell as a college servant at Christ Church and then as a recruitment officer for the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, he was offered his own pub in 1967, by the Ind Coope Brewery where he had worked as drayman.

The couple had been saving some money and decided to accept the offer on The Chester Arms in East Oxford.

He would be landlord of the pub for the next two decades.

His wife Mary said the pub was his 'pride and joy' and he revelled in depicting the victorious history of the regiment in murals of famous battle and changing the pub sign to a Green Jacket bugler.

Their daughter Jane was born at the pub in 1973 and she spent much of her childhood playing in the pub's immaculately kept garden.

The garden was the setting for another of Ken's great passions - Aunt Sally.

He promoted the game - played by most pubs in the county at the time - on national television and even set up the 'Warmington Cup', named after his father and to be competed for every year.

When the couple left the pub in 1987, Ken became a taxi driver in Oxford and Mary went back to clerical work.

It was not until 1994 the pair finally retired and moved to Cornwall where their eldest son lived and they spent many happy years visiting Jane, who lived in France, and driving around Spain.

Ken's health deteriorated in the latter years of his pub career and retirement.

In 2013 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's but despite spending his last few years in a nursing home he still enjoyed his favourite music and marches of his beloved regiment.

He died last month on the eve of Armistice day.

He is survived by his wife Mary, his three children Chris, Robin and Jane, seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.