A bristly Trowbridge man has conquered the competition to become Britain’s first ever Natural Moustache Champion.

Chris Wall, 28, of Cleveland Gardens, entered the British Beard and Moustache Championships in Brighton as “a bit of a laugh”, after reading about it online.

Community nurse Mr Wall said: “I’ve had a moustache since Glastonbury last year. I started off doing Movember (a men’s cancer charity campaign), then shaving it off.

But then I decided to keep it and, ever since then, it’s got bigger and bigger. I decided to enter just as I thought it would be a fun weekend.

“I was blown away. There was over 100 competitors overall and it divided into 11 categories, such as mutton shops, sideburns, partial beard; it was like the Crufts for facial hair.”

Mr Wall took part in the natural moustache category, for facial hair in its natural state, without any gel or wax.

He dressed as a vintage rugby player, to stand out from the many military-costumed and tweed-suited competitors. He said: “I made the final three and then managed to come first. I was completely gobsmacked.

“The competition and standard of facial hair is extremely high and some of the guys take it quite seriously.”

He plans to defend his title next year and is even looking into taking part in the 2013 World Championships in Germany.