REGULARS at a Chester-le-Street pub are mourning the loss of one of its best customers - an Alsatian dog.

Keegan, the faithful companion of owner George Watson, was well-known around the town, greeted in the streets and welcomed in its pubs, especially at The Garden Farm where there was always a packet of biscuits behind the bar and a pint of water.

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

Landlord of the pub, Keith Howe said: "He was more regular then some of my best punters. He had been coming here more or less all his life."