A MUM-of-two has achieved her lifelong dream of managing a pub – and she's brought the whole family along to help.

Julie Burness has moved her family back to the village of Eynsham where they used to live to take over ailing inn The Queen's Head.

With the help of her husband Peter, daughter Louise, granddaughter Imogen and son Sam, she has transformed the pub from a struggling saloon into a 21st century tavern with a new menu and a new lease of life.

The family arrived in November, shut the pub for four weeks while they gave it a several-thousand-pound makeover (with a little help from owners Admiral Taverns), and re-opened just in time for Christmas.

Mrs Burness, 55, said: "Christmas was brilliant – we didn't expect it at all but people have been so kind.

"A lot of people who have come in said they hadn't been in for a long time."

Previous landlord Pete Jones, who had only ever managed the Queen's Head, announced he was hanging up his apron in August after 33 years because he said the business was not making enough money.

Mrs Burness heard it was on the market by pure chance when Louise was back for Eynsham Carnival last summer.

She had wanted to manage a pub ever since she was a girl: her dad was a publican and she grew up above the Golden Farmer in Bracknell when he was managing it.

She ended up working in human resources, but said she always kept the dream alive: "HR is very people-focused and so is running a pub: it's all about being friendly and offering good service."

Ten years ago, Mr and Mrs Burness ran the village store and post office in Wytham, just outside Oxford.

That, too – being a community hub – provided some valuable experience for what was to come.

The family then moved to Eynsham for a few years, before leving for Berkshire to be nearer to Mrs Burness's father for a while.

When Louise told her mum that Pete Jones was planning to leave the Queens Head, she sent a job application to the brewery.

Working together, the family have now transformed the pub with new electrics, new toilets, new decor and even some new customers.

They have two ales on tap and a third guest ale on rotation; they are in the process of hiring a new chef and plan to serve burgers, rustic pizza and doorstep sandwiches with chunky chips.

Mrs Burness added: "It's been extremely popular already.

"You never know, with a place like this, where people have got used to it, what the reaction will be – but it's all be very positive.

"Some people have said even though it's changed, it still feel like the Queen's Head."