Tributes paid to former Morning Advertiser journalist Les Leonard

Leonard, who had spent 20 years as a journalist on the Morning Advertiser​, died just before Christmas at the age of 70 following a year-long illness.

He was one of six regional reporters who covered the country back in the 80’s when the MA was regarded as the ‘bible’ of the licensed trade selling 36,000 copies a day.

Leonard covered London and the south-east and was responsible for gathering daily news from publicans, brewers and pub companies and worked closely with the two main official publican bodies, the National Union of Licensed Victuallers and the National Association of Licensed House Managers.

He regularly attended the monthly meetings of the 60 or so Licensed Victuallers Associations around his region as well as the National LVA Conference.

Honoured​

He was larger than life not only in stature but also in terms of personality and was always popular at the annual charity conferences, including the Society of Licensed Victuallers, the Licensed Victuallers National Homes and the Licensed Trade Convalescent Homes.

Leonard started off his journalistic career on the Sevenoaks Chronicle​ and worked on the Maidstone Gazette​ before joining the MA in 1979 until 1999. He took a short break from journalism in the early 1970s to run his own pub near Sevenoaks.

Recently, the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group honoured Leonard for his services to the industry at a reception with the British Beer and Pub Association.

Ex-APPBG secretary Robert Humphreys, who presented Leonard with an inscribed pewter, said: “The most lovely fellow, always cryptic and wry, and ready to prick the pompous but quite inoffensively, I never met anyone who didn’t think the world of him.”

Humour​

Former West Country MA​ regional reporter, Clive Smith said: “Our role was not only to report the news but to serve as ambassadors at trade events and it would be true to say that no-one could have achieved more than Les.

"Everyone who attended a function would have not only enjoyed Les’s humour but been fully briefed about the MA! He was an amazing character and incredibly popular not only in the south east but throughout the whole country."

Over 200 friends attended his funeral at Hunton Parish Church, near Yalding, yesterday. He is survived by his widow, Marion and a son, Marcus.