Drinkers thank landlord for 20 years of pint-pulling

Mr Ullman, a former London solicitor who had gone on to work for a brewery company, took on the challenge by firstly running the Magpies pub for a year before moving on to The Red Lion on November 16, 1989. He said: "We decided to have a complete change. It had become a restaurant and the owners Benskins wanted us to turn it back into a village pub, which we tried to do."
Despite the challenges facing local pubs - 39 close every week in the UK - Mr Ullman said: "Touch wood we have a very loyal and quite large customer base which we have built up over the 20 years. We run it ourselves and I think where people go wrong is where they try to put managers in village pubs because people expect to see you there. It's a very personal business."
Christine, who had a catering background, works in the kitchen alongside the couple's daughter Helen, making traditional home-cooked food. The couple's two grown up sons also work in the industry.
Over their two decades in charge the pub became a social hub, becoming the spiritual home of darts teams, crib, domino and quiz teams. The couple recently bought its freehold, after years of attempts under six different owners.
The pair were presented with the surprise seat by the villagers, who invited them outside to 'take a look at something' and gave a speech thanking them for their efforts. Mr Ullman added: "It was a very happy day, which lasted well into the night."