Marvellous Mervyn's ale and hearty at 87

Snifter wonders whether West Sussex publican Mervyn Cutten is Britain's longest-serving?

Mervyn, 87, celebrates 40 years at the Murrell Arms in Barnham on 23 March.

And he still has no intention of calling his last "time ladies and gentlemen please."

When Mervyn first took on the pub it was a Friary pub, then Ind Coope, then Allied Breweries and finally George Gales.

Mervyn says he is rarely in bed before midnight and always up before 8am.

"You get conditioned to the hours," he says.

The pub is crammed with memorabilia adorning the walls and hanging from the ceiling.

Mervyn's own additions to the decor make it even more of a museum piece.

"It really is like drinking in a living bit of history," said one regular.

Asked about the secret of his good health, Mervyn said: "I suppose I'm just very lucky.

But I walk a lot, which is good for the circulation."

He also thrives on wife Daphne's home-made traditional meals.

When Mervyn took over the Murrell he was determined to build up its already historic collection of artefacts.

"In those days landlords were modernising pubs and throwing out old stuff they considered rubbish."

Among his most treasured possessions is a Spinning Jenny which used to be an old form of pub roulette.

Mervyn introduced old-fashioned pub games like Shove Halfpenny and Ring the Bull (the record is 18 consecutive successful "rings.").

There are no fruit machines or juke boxes, let alone television.

"We want to keep it traditional," he says.

Mervyn is also a talented artist, an avid historian and a writer.

He is the co-author of a coffee table book called The Dictionary of Portrait Painters in Britain in the 1920s.

He also wrote about the "Inns and Alehouses of Chichester" and the archivist and a stalwart member of the charitable Chichester-based organisation called the Ancient Corporation of St. Pancras.

"I hope to remain active for a few more years yet," Mervyn says.