REGULARS at a pub will not need to spend much time getting to know their new landlord – he’s been drinking with them for more than 30 years.

Will Harbour, 51, has been a regular fixture at the bar of the Sow and Pigs pub in Poundon, near Bicester, since 1976.

Now the former truck driver – who has become as much of an institution in the pub as the collection of unusual beer bottles which line the walls – is hoping to put his years of experience propping up the bar to good use behind the pumps.

He said he also hoped a familiar face behind the bar could save the beleaguered pub, which has had six landlords in the past four years.

He added: “We’re not going to do anything out of the ordinary, just take it back to what it was when I started coming here, a friendly local pub.

“And we’re already getting people come back in to the pub who haven’t been here for years.

“That could possibly be because of me.

“I’ve lived in the area for 40 years and was the pub’s best customer.

“Light and bitter sales have dropped now I’m this side of the bar but people from the village have started to come in again. I think everyone is just happy the beer is good and there’s a familiar face behind the bar.”

Mr Harbour has taken on the the Sow and Pigs with partner Ali Gurney, 52, whom he met in the pub six years ago.

Ms Gurney said: “I think it was a bit of a novelty to begin with.

“People came in and were shocked to see him this side of the bar, not drinking as much, and not swearing, which he was renowned for.

“But everyone is getting used to it and seems to be more than happy.”

Martin Hanson, who lives two doors down from the pub and regularly drinks there with wife Pam, and his son Thomas, 20, said: “It has brought a lot of people back who used to come here and drink.

“The place has come alive again really.”

Nineteen-stone Mr Harbour, known to friends as ‘Big Will’, is also hoping to bring back the pub darts, cricket and golf teams, which he was once a dedicated member of, and also start introducing a basic menu.

He said: “We’re not exactly going to put Le Manoir out of business, but we’ll be laying on simple, home cooked food as you’d expect out of a country pub.

“You can’t force people through the door, but if people want to come along, they will be made more than welcome.”

The Sow and Pigs is owned by Brakspear pubs.