A WHIDDON Down chef received a big surprise when he discovered that friends and colleagues had redecorated his living room in gratitude for his hard work this year.

Steve Moore, the chef at the Post Inn, returned to his living quarters two weeks ago (December 8) to find that the pub’s landlord and some friends had redecorated the room and provided him with a new sofa and place to put his TV.

Steve, who lives in private quarters above the pub, said: ‘I was very happy, almost teary. I would never have expected anything of this sort.’

In true DIY SOS-style, landlord George Wetherdon and some locals secretly madeover the room in two hours while Steve was taken out for a drink and a meal.

Landlord George Wetherdon said: ‘Steve’s worked hard this summer and not really had time to anything with the room. So I thought what’ll I do is get all the resources and send Steve out for a meal with my friends.

‘Then me and a couple of the locals here ran up there to try and do as much as we could in two hours.’

George said that Steve had been working particularly hard since the pub had lost its second chef during the height of the pandemic and started doing the work of two chefs to keep the pub going.

Three lockdowns caused significant disruption to the Inn as hospitality venues across the country were forced to close as part of the national covid restrictions and, as the single occupant in the upstairs flat, Steve became isolated.

‘It was very lonely being in that kitchen on my own,’ he said.

Since the pub re-opened, Steve has had additional help and been overrun with work.

He had planned to redecorate the room last January but has been unable to find the time as the pub’s business is booming once again, so George stepped in to provide him with the new living room he wanted.

The Post Inn is located in a 16th century building.