A PUBLICAN who spent 26 years pulling pints and providing a listening ear for customers has died, aged 84.

Father-of-two Ken Coggins passed away on April 2 in the house he was born in, The Croft, Headington.

He and his late wife, Ruby, ran the Coach and Horses in St Clement's.

Mr Coggins left St Andrews School in Headington when he was 14 to become a builder, before he was called up to join the army for the Second World War, aged 18.

After the war he went back to the building trade and worked on university buildings as a stonemason for Benfield & Loxley Ltd.

Mr and Mrs Coggins took over the licence of the Coach and Horses in 1959, which they ran together until 1984.

The funeral was held on Tuesday.