Friendly staff make The Moonrakers in Pewsey a great local haunt, according to landlord Jerry Kunkler who was delighted to accept this month’s Gazette & Herald Pub of the Month title.

Pewsey-born Mr Kunkler, Wiltshire councillor for the village, will be celebrating owning the pub for 33 years next month and is the village’s longest-serving landlord.

He said: “I’m totally shocked because we don’t even serve food here.

“We just make sure there is a friendly atmosphere and we treat everybody the same and make everyone feel welcome.

“Things have changed over the decades.

“People don’t just go to the pub anymore. They need a reason to go so we put things on like sports events on the TV screens and a happy hour.

“I’ve run a happy hour for the last 25 years and there we’re more over Christmas.

“We offer good value for money, people can come here and get four pints for a tenner.”

Mr Kunkler regularly uses his pub in the High Street to fundraise for many county and national charities.

The pub is also involved in community events and is a stop on both the three-legged race and the wheelbarrow race during the village’s annual carnival.

He said: “All of the staff here work really hard and I never employ anyone who isn’t friendly because it’s the staff who make it a good pub to come to.

“I think it’s important that they get credit for that.

“That’s why I took them to Paris this year for the Christmas party. We all got on the Eurostar and went up the Eiffel tower.”