ASBO snack bar... Pay-what-you-think... Brains...

Frustrated Bristol host Leroy Trought hit back following the ASBO he received in March after refusing to take down the sign in his car park that said 'porking yard'. In response, Trought opened a snack bar outside his pub - and called it 'the ASBO takeaway'. 'I was going to call it Porkies' Snack Bar, but I thought I would use the name they gave me,' he said.

Intrepid Norwich host James 'Tiny' Little became the trade's answer to Ellen MacArthur, when he returned from an epic 118-day solo journey across the Atlantic in a rowing boat.

The exhausted licensee said: 'If anybody sees me planning to do another ocean rowing trip, they're entitled to do whatever they can to stop me!'

Trustworthy licensee Mark Hines made sure his customers didn't feel they were paying too much for food - by asking them to name the price. The 'pay what you think' night at the Black Horse in the village of Greetham in Rutland became a big hit. Thankfully, being a destination pub anyway from the town, cheapskates were few and far between and the average spend on food was around £10 to £15. 'It's an interesting twist on an evening out,' said Hines.

Hardened booze lovers know this already of course, but research released this month showed that alcohol can help increase the size of your brain. Experts from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, discovered this after tests on mice found that moderate alcohol consumption can lead to the formation of new brain cells.

Up in Scotland, singer songwriter Joe Jackson joined a licensee-led political party that battled against plans by the Scottish Executive to restrict smoking in public places. 'I applaud your creation of the Publican Party and if you really can get publicans united, you may achieve something,' Jackson told party founders Kit Fraser and Don Lawson.