A PUB manager will say goodbye to his regulars later this month, after The Foresters Arms was sold.

Steve Carr, 39, manager at the pub in Sandridge Road, Melksham, for the past three-and-a-half years, will move on after owners Spirit Group sold it to Scottish and Newcastle Pub Enterprises.

Mr Carr, who lives at the pub with his wife Karen, 35, and their children, Stacey, 14, and Kristopher, six, will move to a Spirit Group pub in Bristol.

He said he was sad to be leaving and was disappointed to disrupt his children, who both attend school in Melksham.

He said: "It disrupts the children because it uproots them from their schools. Sometimes I feel like a gypsy because I'm always moving around the country.

"Our intention was to stay here until Stacey finished education but we have no choice."

Mr Carr, who is also the chef at the pub, believes he has improved the standard of food on offer since he took the helm and has also worked hard to make it a community pub. He said the people of Melksham gave him a warm welcome when he arrived from Redditch, near Birmingham.

He said: "The two places are like chalk and cheese. People here are fantastic. In terms of crime and problems like that you don't get half of what you get up north. You can just sit here and mellow."

Giant pub chain Scottish and Newcastle, which bought 364 pubs nationwide from Spirit Group, has set up a new company called Globe Inns.