Business owners in Chippenham will be growing ’taches for cash this month to raise money for prostate cancer.

Steve Jenner and son Tom, of the Three Crowns, and Chris Bonsor and Steve Smith of The Bridge Brasserie, with their sous chef Dan Houston, will be growing moustaches for the Movember charity challenge, which takes its name from the slang for a moustache – mo.

The pair will not be allowed to shave for a month in the hope their customers will dig deep for charity.

Mr Bonsor and Mr Smith will shave their moustaches after an informal rum-tasting event on November 30, which was also planned to celebrate the restaurant’s first birthday.

“There’s a lot of publicity out there for breast cancer and cervical cancer, but maybe not so much for prostate or testicular cancer,” said Mr Smith.

“The statistics for men over a certain age who will be affected with these kinds of problems is frighteningly high. Something like 37,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, so it’s a huge number. Up to 60 per cent of men will be affected with prostate issues in their lifetime. Out of the four of us working here, it’s possible two of us could be affected, so we did want to raise as much money for research into it as we can.”

Mr Bonsor said: “There’s going to be a big jar for people to contribute in the restaurant, and all the money raised on the rum-tasting will go to the charity too.

“We’re hoping to raise about £1,000 during that night for the cause.”

Mr Jenner said he would be clean-shaven for the first time since leaving school before the start of the month-long challenge, which he will undertake with his son Tom and regulars at the Three Crowns.

“It’ll be the first time in 30-odd years that I’ve seen my top lip,” he said.

“There’s going to be around 16 of us taking part all told. At the end, we’ll have a big event where everyone gathers together and our wives will run a little competition to see who had the best moustache, the worst, the tickliest, and so on. It would be great if people would come in and contribute a bit.”

Tickets for the rum-tasting event at the brasserie, which will feature eight different rums and a raffle, cost £10.

Visit www.thebridgebrass erie.co.uk or call (01249) 444522, or visit http://threecrownschippenham.co.uk or call (01249) 449029.