A FORMER financial adviser and her traffic officer husband loved the beer at their local pub so much they have moved in.

Colne traffic sergeant Eric Marshall and his wife Heather both decided to take a new direction in their life when the Harpers Inn, Fence, came on the market.

But it is Heather and 21-year-old son Adam who are fronting the show until Eric retires from Lancashire Constabulary at the end of December.

Eric said: "We live only 200 yards away from the pub so know the score. We have been locals here for years and it seemed like a good idea to take over the Harpers Inn.

"Heather and Adam will run the show for the first couple of months until I am ready to get involved.

"I am used to hard work and long hours so the job of running as pub, which everyone knows is a demanding one, shouldn't be a problem.

"We will have a good workforce as well to help us out so it should be fine."

Licensee Heather, formerly a financial interviewer at the Halifax Building Society in Nelson, said: "The pub is very busy at the moment with Christmas coming but we have settled in now. It is very different from my old job but I decided to reinvent myself.

"We saw it advertised on the internet and with Eric retiring we just thought we would go for it. We are in the process of refurbishing, which includes the toilets and reupholstering the furniture. We are having to work round the customers but I don't think they mind.

"It will look like a new pub when we have finished, which should be by the middle of next year."

Former licensee Ken Barlow ran the Harpers Inn for many years but when he stepped down and it was taken over by new management the locals did not like the changes made and the pub's popularity waned.

Now Heather and her 15 full and part-time staff are pulling back the customers.

She said: "It went downhill fast and people stopped drinking there but they are starting to come back again now because they us know us with it being our local. It's surprising how many people we know between us."

The venture is a real family affair as the couple's 18-year-old daughter Louise also helps out in the pub.