“HE’S safe in here while you go shopping.”

That’s one landlord’s reassuring message to wives eager to off-load the other half while shopping in Wantage.

Frank Mahon, boss at the King’s Arms, has turned his pub into a creche. . . but with a subtle twist – it’s for men.

The 49-year-old claims the idea is popular with wives and girlfriends who want to drop off their husbands and boyfriends on their way to the shops.

A ticket is handed to make sure the correct punter (or partner) is handed back!

For the past two weeks a board outside the Market Place pub has read: “He is safe in here while you go shopping”.

Mr Mahon, who took over the Greene King-owned pub a month ago, said spouses are retrieved once wives handed back a creche ticket at the bar.

The landlord, originally from Dublin, said: “It’s all a bit of fun, it’s about the banter.

“If they wanted they could exchange their husband for someone else if he was available.

“I just got the idea out of my head.

“I was looking for ideas to get people in the pub.

“There is a lot of doom and gloom and one of the best ways to fill a pub is to give people a smile.”

Mr Mahon, who also owns the Greyhound at Letcombe Regis, reckons trade is up by 25 to 30 per cent after the man creche was launched.

He said: “People are coming in because they’ve seen the sign and they think it’s hilarious.

“It’s attracting a lot of attention and the pub is buzzing.

“Lots of people are talking about it in the town, in the taxis and in the shops.

“We’ve had a great response.”

“I don’t know if the novelty will wear off, but if you can get people in a pub and they become comfortable then they will stay.”

And Mr Mahon denied he was being sexist.

He said: “It is not meant to be sexist, it is something that people have done for generations, the wife goes shopping and the husband goes for a pint or goes to the bookies and places a bet.”