A VETERAN pubs and clubs maestro, who went into business with close pal George Best, has been drafted in to run a Burnley brewery’s new bar and bistro.

Malcolm ‘Waggy’ Wagner had been in semi-retirement after leaving the Grants Arms Hotel, in Ramsbottom, when bosses at Moorhouse’s came calling.

When managing director David Grant asked him to oversee the entertainments side of the newly-redeveloped Tower Brewery, he couldn’t wait to come off the bench.

Malcolm opened Slack Alice’s nightclub, in Manchester, with Best in 1973, and was later involved in the city’s Oscars restaurant.

He was the Belfast Boy’s closest confidante and fled to Majorca with him when Best announced his shock retirement from football.

Malcolm said: “David is an old friend of mine, but when I agreed I had been out of the game for around two years.

"David is trying to do a beautiful job with the new brewery and wanted to create a bistro which would become a real destination place for people in Burnley.

“I know that we are currently trying to get a licence for wedd-ings to be held there.

"We’ve had a couple of functions already and they have gone really well.”

Plans to create a terrace, linking in with the bistro, are also being explored by brewery bosses, said Malcolm.

He said: “I know people at the brewery really have Burnley’s best interests at heart as they’ve worked on this, and they even invited all of the neighbours around when they had the grand opening.”

Recently, Ramsbottom author Tom Page detailed Malcolm’s association with his late footballing friend in George Best and Me.

In his early days, he was also a lead singer of The Whirlwinds, performing alongside future 10cc vocalist Graham Gouldman.