A POPULAR former pub landlord and car factory worker has died aged 76.

Tony Lane, who managed three pubs and a bar during his time as a landlord, passed away at his Kidlington home on November 11 after battling bowel cancer for more than two years.

Mr Lane and his wife Diane managed the King’s Arms in Kidlington from 1975 until 1982, then the Wise Alderman in Kidlington (now the Highwayman), before moving to the Woodstock Arms in Woodstock Road, Oxford, in 1991.

The couple managed the pub until 2000, when they retired for six weeks before going back into the trade to run the Conservative Club in Summertown for the next three years.

Mr Lane continued to be the club’s treasurer until March this year. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at the Churchill Hospital in September.

Mrs Lane, née Gardner, said: “He was a wonderful man. He will be sadly missed — we had a wonderful life together.

“He was a family man.”

The 70-year-old added: “He was well-known. I know one year we went to one of the Greek islands and someone came up to us to say hello.

“He would get on with anybody, he was very sociable man who would do anything for anyone.”

Mr Lane was born on April 15, 1937, at his grandmother’s home in Cuddesdon and grew up in the village of Little Milton, attending Little Milton Primary School until the age of 11 then Great Haseley School.

When he was five years old, he had to have a leg amputated after he was hit by a lorry while playing football in the street. He spent his sixth birthday in hospital.

He met his wife Diane as a child, as they lived across the road from each other in Little Milton, and they started dating when they were teenagers.

The couple married on September 21, 1963, at St James’ Church in the village. She was 20 and he was 26.

They went on to have three children Paul, 48, Kevin, 46, and Moira, 44. There are eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild, Ella-Louise, born only three weeks ago.

Mr Lane worked at the Cowley car factory from 1952 until 1975, when he and his wife moved into the pub trade.

He was involved in a number of community activities, including bell ringing at Little Milton’s church and playing cricket for Little Milton and The Lamb Inn in Chalgrove.

He was also an umpire for Kidlington Cricket Club, worked as a steward at Oxford United, and played Aunt Sally in the Oxford and Kidlington leagues.

Mrs Lane added: “He had a very busy, full life.”

The funeral service is on Monday at Oxford Crematorium at 1.30pm.

Family flowers only, but donations are invited to Cancer Research UK c/o Reeves & Pain, 22 Fairfax Centre, Kidlington, OX5 2PB.