A FORMER landlord who ran a pub on Osney Island for eight years has died aged 62.

Ray Brown ran the Waterman's Arms – now the Punter – in South Street from 1995 to 2003.

A former gas engineer before he became a publican, he was also a keen snooker player and angler, as well as a fan of Beano comics.

Under the management of Mr Brown and his wife Jennifer, the Waterman's became known for its pies, which received glowing reviews from food critics in the local press.

The pub was a regular haunt of boaters and holidaymakers travelling up and down the Thames as it remains today.

Mr Brown and his wife decided to cast off and return to their native Windsor in 2003.

Mrs Brown told the Oxford Mail this week: "Ray was the kind of person who would do anything for anyone. He was good to my daughter and a good grandfather and we spent a very happy 26 years together."

Raymond Brown was born in Windsor on April 22, 1954, to parents Wilfrid and Mary.

The son of an engineer, he had one brother, David, who is now aged 67.

He grew up in Windsor, where he was a pupil at the Royal Free School .

After leaving school Mr Brown became a gas engineer with British Gas in 1969, a job he was to hold for 25 years.

He met his future wife Jennifer, in 1988, at their local Conservative club when she was filling in for a member of staff at the bar.

They married in 1990 at Windsor's Holy Trinity Church and moved in together, with Mr Brown becoming a surrogate father to his wife's daughter Vicki Clisby.

In 1994 the couple had the opportunity to take early retirement and decided to go into the pub business. Through a friend at Morland Brewery, Abingdon, they arranged to view pubs in Oxfordshire and agreed to take on the Waterman's Arms in Osney Island in July 1995.

By 2003 they decided to move on from the business due to pressures on the industry that 24-hour licensing changes had caused.

They went back to Windsor, where Mr Brown joined his nephew David Brown's business supplying equipment for eye tests.

He continued to work with him until he was taken ill.

Mr Brown was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2011 and underwent pioneering treatment to have his tongue removed and replaced using skin from his left thigh.

This restored his taste and enabled him to eat, drink and speak again, but resulted in the unusual characteristic of having hairs growing on his tongue.

The cancer receded but in the past year he was diagnosed with larynx cancer. He had been undergoing treatment for this at Northwick Park Hospital, in Harrow, London, but died on Tuesday, May 17, due to arterial bleeding.

A funeral is due to take place at 11.30am on Friday, May 27, at Slough Crematorium. All who knew him are welcome and a wake will be held at Datchet Golf Course, near Slough, from about 12.30pm.

Mr Brown is survived by his wife, daughter Vicki, grandchildren Jamie and Charley and great-grandson Tyler.