A POPULAR landlord will be doing it his way once more when he returns to Accrington's Swan pub on Abbey Street - for the third time.

Mick Way, 57, who ran the town centre boozer for 11 years, became one of the town's best-loved landlords, raising thousands of pounds for charity over the years with his wife Pauline.

Mick first arrived at the pub on Abbey Street in 1986, staying as landlord for two years.

He then returned in 1990 and stayed behind the bar until 2001.

In the past few years he has spent some time working as a lorry driver after getting his HGV licence and also ran a pub in Middleton for two years.

He said: "It's good to be back and I just want to take the pub back to how it used to be. There are a lot of pubs nowadays that do things like karaoke with the flashing lights, but I just want to run a good old-fashioned pub."

Over the years, Mick and his regulars put on charity events, including fund-raisers for the Association for Children with Heart Defects.

These included rolling barrels of beer from the pub to the top of the Coppice and back as well as organising three-legged races for customers.

He said: "We would tie their legs together and send them round collecting from other pubs. They would usually have to do a forfeit when they arrived, like singing a song and they would have a drink in each of the pubs they visited.

"I am really looking forward to being back and I want to make the place into a real boozer's paradise."

He has a daughter Susan, 36 and sons Anthony, 32 and Michael, 15.