AFTER suffering life-changing injuries in the Army, ex-soldier Tim Brayley has defied doctors with his recovery and is now pulling pints as new manager of The Green Dragon in Marlborough.

Mr Brayley was only 21 when a traumatic brain injury cut short the military career he had dreamed of as a child, leaving him in a wheelchair for six months and hospitalised for more than a year. He also lost the feeling in the right side of his body and doctors gave him the devastating news he might never walk again.

However, for the past four and a half years, a determined Mr Brayley, 25, has been in and out of rehabilitation centres successfully learning to walk, read and write again, as well as having speech therapy and physiotherapy on his hand, which was shattered and required extensive surgery.

He prefers to keep his role in the military and the cause of his injuries private, but he said the pain and the long recovery still wouldn’t have stopped him joining the Army at 17, as it is “the greatest and the worst job on earth”.

“It’s been a long road,” he said. “I guess it’s the squaddie mentality, but you can either cry about it or get on with it – it’s the hand you’ve been dealt.”

Although, Mr Brayley has mental health problems and post-traumatic stress, he acknowledges he is one of the lucky ones.

“I’ve got friends who are quadriplegics but if you asked them if they would do it all over again, even if they knew they would end up in a wheelchair, they would say yes in a heartbeat.

“I miss it every day. I’d give anything to go back; it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done and it was the making of me.”

It was Tedworth House in Tidworth, one of the recovery centres run by Help for Heroes, which brought Mr Brayley, originally from Bournemouth, to Marlborough more than a year ago. He credits the charity for helping put his life back together and for its ongoing support.

He initially moved to Kingsbury Street, while he worked at the Kitchen Monger in the High Street, before moving to the accommodation in the pub, also in the High Street, several months ago.

When asked to take on the role of pub manager Mr Brayley was hesitant, but he hasn’t looked back and is enjoying his new role behind the bar with his faithful dog Lexi.

He added: “I think it was Richard Branson who said ‘if anyone ever asks you if you can do anything, say yes immediately, then go away and work out how to do it afterwards’.

“Here I am four months later still wondering what the hell I’m doing, but it’s getting there. The pub’s doing really well, better than it has been doing for a while.

“I love dealing with people, we’ve got great staff, a really good new menu that’s doing really well and it’s just got an energy to it. It’s just brilliant it’s a really busy vibrant pub and there’s always something going on.

“It’s the first thing I’ve done since leaving the Army that I’ve actually enjoyed.”