Oxford publican Leigh Jackson, known to many of his regulars as Mr Snuff, has died aged 86.

Mr Jackson worked in the pub trade for more than 50 years, running several pubs across the county.

His career began in 1937, when he joined his father-in-law, Tom Duckett, running the Savoy billiards hall, in Queen Street, Oxford.

When the Second World War broke out, Mr Jackson enlisted with the RAF.

After the war, Mr Jackson went on to work in the pub trade in Oxfordshire, running pubs with his wife, Edna.

His pubs included the Hare and Hounds in Watlington, the bar at the Clarendon Press Institute, in Walton Street, Oxford, and two city pubs - vthe Eagle Inn, in Magdalen Road, and the Friar Bacon in Cutteslowe.

The couple had two children, Irene and Clifford. Mrs Jackson died in 1982.

Mr Jackson called time on the pub trade in November 1990, when he retired as landlord of the Black Boy, in Old High Street, Headington.

While Mr Jackson prided himself on the good beer he served his customers, it was his collection of snuffs that made him a landlord to remember.

In 1965, Mr Jackson told the Oxford Mail his affinity with snuff began while he was the landlord of the Hare and Hounds.

He said: "A chap came in and gave me some for the pleasure of seeing me sneeze.

"I got some of the real stuff and the next time he came in I was the one making him sneeze."

Former Black Boy regular Frank Hooper, 86, said: "He ran pubs the way they should be run - he always had time to talk to people."

Mr Jackson, who had been living in Lambourn Road, Rose Hill, died in the Churchill Hospital on Christmas Day after a long battle with cancer.