REGULARS at a Devizes pub have started a campaign to get Clive the lurcher back after they claimed he was taken by Celebrity Big Brother star Marco Pierre White Jnr.

Black Swan manager Neil Chandler said: "Everyone here is devastated. All the staff and all our customers love Clive and just want to know when he is coming back."

Mr Chandler said that Marco Jnr, the son of TV chef Marco Pierre White, arrived at the pub in the Market Place last Wednesday evening and told bemused staff he wanted the dog.

Mr Chandler said: "It all happened so quickly no-one really knew what was happening. He just grabbed Clive and put him in the back of his car."

He took the dog back to the Rudloe Arms, near Corsham, which is owned by his father and told staff there the dog had been badly treated and was in a poor condition.

A spokesman for the hotel said yesterday: "It wasn't so much as dog stealing as dog saving."

But Mr Chandler said that Clive was in fine condition and was spoilt by staff and regulars. He said: "It is ridiculous to suggest Clive wasn't wasn't well treated by us."

Staff at the Black Swan were told by Marco Jnr that he owned the dog and his father had given it away without his permission 18 months earlier.

Landlord John Chapman, who is a close friend of the chef, is away but his son Daniel, who works in the kitchen said: "This is Clive’s home. He’s a real character in the pub and all the locals love him. He belongs here.”

He said that Clive has been chipped and is registered to their home behind the Black Swan.

Barman Harry Mahoney, 19, said: “Marco and two girls came in and he was saying ‘where’s Clive?’ I gave the girl the lead and she was saying sorry.”

On Saturday evening Mr Chandler hoped the matter was going to be resolved when one of his bar staff took a call from the Rudloe Arms saying they wanted the dog to be returned.

But when he rang the hotel back he says he was told the dog was staying put. He said: "We will do all we can to get Clive back to where he belongs."

Staff have reported the incident to the police but a spokesman said they considered it a civil matter. It has not been possible to contact Marco Jnr at the Rudloe Arms and his father is out of the country.

The celebrity chef has been a regular visitor to the Black Swan since it was taken over by Mr Chapman two years ago and last year helped him run an Argentinian fire pit event during Devizes Food and Drink Festival.