THE landlord of an Old Town pub hit out at passerby who called the police claiming that it was trading illegally.

Jason Putt and a small team of staff were inside the Hop Inn on Devizes Road yesterday evening busily bottling and boxing up beer for deliveries that had been ordered online.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Josh West prepared burgers and wings for his own click-and-collect service which customers could pick up at the pub's door after ordering online.

One customer asked for a beer when he arrived to collect his food but was denied the drink as this would count as a takeaway order and go against the Covid guidelines.

Mr Putt recalled his son telling him about a police van that had parked up outside just a few minutes after a couple walking past "stopped to peer in every window before they moved on".

He added: "A couple of officers got out of the van and spoke to us and we had to explain that what we were doing was legal.

"They were very sympathetic and said it's hard enough doing what we're doing without having false claims made about us.

"I was gobsmacked at the petty-mindedness of someone who decides to waste police time like that. It riled me, I was really angry - don't people have anything better to do?

"If we wanted to trade illegally in a pub on a main road, don't you think we might have muted the lighting just a tad and pulled the blinds down or used our room upstairs?"

The pub's delivery service is carried out three days a week, with Friday often the busiest, and has helped the boozer survive a year of on-and-off lockdowns.

With the end in sight, Mr Putt is cautiously looking forward to the future.

He added: "Notwithstanding anything going wrong, we will open outdoors on April 12 with a marquee to make it more weather-friendly, then reopen fully in May if all goes well.

"It's been very difficult, with rent to pay and business costs, though the government support has helped.

"I kept all my staff furloughed, which costs around £1,000 a month, it's not cheap, but I didn't have it in my heart to make them redundant at a time like this so they stayed on. That's public-spirited - as opposed to ringing the police for petty reasons."