Policeman gets new beat at pub (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Policeman gets new beat at pub

IT'S a far cry from the city beat for former policeman Neil Hannis and his wife Julie who have swapped the streets of Nottingham for the leafy pastures of Wiltshire after taking over The Duke Hotel, at Hilmarton, near Lyneham.

But Neil's looking forward to relinquishing his former career in favour of looking after his new customers.

"It's certainly much more of 'The Good Life' here, than where we were living," says Neil.

"In Nottingham our house faced a 24-hour taxi rank, here we wake up to a field of sheep.

"I enjoyed my time in the police force, but now we're keen to provide a different sort of service to our customers, and with RAF Lyneham so near, you could say we're now providing a service to the Services."

Wiltshire might be new to Neil, but for his wife Julie, who worked as a teacher in Nottingham and is a trained cook, it's a return to her home ground.

Julie grew up at Burghclere and spent many summers at The Duke when it was run by her aunt.

"I'm really looking forward to making the pub our own, and getting back into the kitchen again after years in the classroom," she said.

"It's such a busy place that on our first day we had so many customers we ended up sharing our own food as we didn't want to turn them away!

"Luckily, we'd brought enough ploughman's ingredients for an army or perhaps I should say a squadron!"

James Arkell, the managing director of Swindon's Arkell's Brewery, which owns The Duke, said: "It's really wonderful to welcome Julie and Neil into the pub, especially as Julie is already a familiar face.

"I hope they settle well into the rural life, it should certainly be more peaceful than the mean streets of Nottingham."