New landlord is back behind the bar of Derbyshire pub he used to work at - and says it is a dream come true

Mark Liddle worked at the Lantern Pike more than a decade ago.

On November, 16 2012 he left to pursue a career in nursing and as coincidence would have it on November, 16 2023 he returned to the pub as the new landlord.

The 44-year-old said: “When I left I told people I would be back one day running the place but no one took me seriously.

“Now I’m back it’s like I’ve never been away and it’s been so great catching up with old faces.”

The pub and B&B has been keeping Mark busy since he swapped patients for pints.

Now looking to the future Mark wants to celebrate the history of the Little Hayfield pub more.

He said: “Tony Warren is the man who founded ITV’s Coronation Street and he wrote many of his scripts sitting here in the Lantern Pike so I want to do something to honour his work.”Tony came up with the idea for Britain’s longest running soap opera and wrote the scripts as well.

Mark added: “Tony was openly gay at a time in the early Sixties when homosexuality was illegal.

“We have reached out to the blue plaque people to see if he can have a plaque outside the pub but they say people must be dead 20 years before they can install one and as he only died in 2016 we have a bit of a wait.”Mark says he has contacted another historical society who put up purple plaques to honour famous people within the LGBT community and is waiting to hear back.

He said he wanted to return a few years ago but had not got the funds so the opportunity went to someone else and in the summer of last year and told him she was going so he had some time to get sorted.

He added: “This place is home, it is a community pub where everyone looks out for each other and that is a rare quality to have nowadays and one which needs to be celebrated and treasured.

“Being back here is a dream come true.”