A PUB is mourning the death of one of its regular customers.

Keegan the Alsatian was a well-known figure around Chester-le-Street, welcomed in pubs and greeted in the street by strangers.

There was always a packet of biscuits behind the bar of The Garden Farm Inn and a bowl of water at the ready for Keegan.

But sadly there is now an empty space at the bar following the death of the dog owned by George Watson.

The dog became such a familiar sight in the town that people who were complete strangers to Mr Watson would greet Keegan in the street by name.

The dog died on Monday after eating a chicken bone which ruptured his bowel. Since then, Mr Watson has been so inundated with inquiries from people in the town asking after the animal.

Mr Watson said: "People are stopping me in the street - people I don't know - and asking where the dog is.

"Even the kids around here know his name and would call him, even though they don't know me. When he was young, they would knock on the door to see if the dog would play."

Mr Watson's daughter brought Keegan home as a puppy after he had been thrown from a car and abandoned by the roadside. He was named after the then Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan.

Keith Howe, landlord of the Garden Farm Inn, paid tribute to his unusual regular.

He said: "He came here more often than some of my best punters. He was part of the furniture."