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© PAPeter Dolan with cart horse Peggy as she enjoys a pint of John Smiths at the Alexandra hotel in Jarrow, South Tyneside
A horse who has been a regular at a pub for several years has been barred after the landlady bought new carpets.

Peggy, a 12-year-old mare, used to enjoy a pint of John Smith's bitter and a packet of pickled onion crisps alongside owner Peter Dolan inside O'Malleys in Jarrow, South Tyneside.

But when landlady Jackie Gray had the pub refitted and renamed as the Alexandra Hotel, she had to bar Peggy.

Mr Dolan said that Peggy began drinking in the pub when one day, instead of staying outside on the grass when he went inside, she followed him in and became a regular ever since.

He said: "No-one even took any notice of her.

"Everyone just saw her as one of the locals."

Mrs Gray had only just taken over the pub, said she was shocked to find one of her new regulars was a horse.

She said: "Although she is probably cleaner than some of my customers, I had to put my foot down and show her the door."

Mr Dolan, a 62-year-old retired oil rigger, said that he still brought his horse to the pub, but she remained tethered outside.

He said: "People come into the pub and the first thing they say is 'Where's Peggy?'

"I tell them she's kicked the habit and is teetotal now."