FRIENDS are laying flowers outside a pub in Bournemouth after a 41-year-old man was stabbed there last night.

Steve Galsworthy, who was the pub manager, died in the Royal Bournemouth Hospital after being attacked with a knife.

A friend Fred Jones said: "I have known him for years and he was nice bloke. He had a girlfriend from Tenerife and he was planning to move to Spain."

A note on a bunch of flowers left by the door of the pub reads: "Steve, Never to be forgotten mates 4 life" and was signed Tony the Bolt, Karen and Mot.

Police were called to The Lions Head, formerly known as Samson's, 142 Holdenhurst Road at 8pm on Wednesday after reports of knife attack.

The pub and the car park behind it have been cordoned off by police while they carry out a forensic investigation.

According to a police spokesman a 39-year-old Bournemouth man has been arrested and is helping police with their enquiries.