RETIRED pub landlord Adrian Potts, who turned a Wiltshire hamlet into a worldwide mecca for crop circle fans, has died aged 68.

Mr Potts, who took over The Barge at Honeystreet, near Pewsey, in 1993 when it was rundown, originally welcomed local croppies as a way of getting some extra custom.

But as word spread about the strange circles in Wiltshire fields people flocked from all over the world.

His wife June, who ran the pub with him, said: “At first Adrian was sceptical but as he saw more and more of the circles he realised that many of them were not man made.

“It was a crazy time with lots of Americans coming and we were invited back over there.

“People came from all over the world but after 9/11 the Americans stopped travelling and then we had a lot of Japanese.”

Mr Potts, who grew up in Bristol, originally worked in finance but had always wanted to run a pub. After his first marriage to Diane broke up he married June, who had a background in the licensed trade.

They were taken on and trained by Wadworths in 1990 and first worked at the White Hart in Wroughton and finally moved to Honeystreet in 1993.

Mr Potts got talking to crop circle fans in the Wagon and Horses at Beckhampton and when they needed somewhere new to meet invited them to The Barge.

Mrs Potts said: “Being a publican meant everything to Adrian.”

In 2010 the couple retired and moved to Devizes but in recent times Mr Potts suffered from ill health. He leaves children Ashley and Kelly and four grandchildren. A private funeral service will be held at West Wiltshire Crematorium on August 18 with donations for Wiltshire Air Ambulance.