A Hampshire country pub recently hosted a local actor and composer while he was working at The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, on a production of Bugsy Malone.

Simon Slater dropped into The Duke on the Test, just outside Romsey, and is well known for playing the lead role of Sam in Mamma Mia in the West End for more than four years and Ross Faber in the hit BBC TV show Holby City.

Locally, he was a regular actor at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton where he starred in many musical productions including; Earth and Sky, Bloodshot, Waiting for Godot, The Wizard of Oz and Toad of Toad Hall.

For the Mayflower Youth Theatre production of Bugsy Malone, Simon was the musical supervisor and sound director. He is also currently working on music for a show which will be performed at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London.

Simon said: “Staying at The Duke on The Test was wonderful a wonderful experience. John and his staff have been so kind and accommodating and I can’t praise them highly enough. I had a great meal and now know why it’s so popular! I can’t wait to come back.”

John Ellis, general manager at The Duke on The Test, added: “It was a pleasure to have Simon stay with us, and we wish him all the best for the show. We very much look forward to him coming back in December when he is back working at The Mast at Christmas.”

Based on the Bafta award-winning 1976 film, Bugsy Malone tells the tale of the rise of the titular character in prohibition-era New York City.

Inspired by gangster movies, the cast is played by child actors in adult roles, substituting machine guns that fire whipped cream instead of bullets.

With songs such as "My Name Is Tallulah", "I'm Feeling Fine" and "So You Wanna Be a Boxer?", previous productions have featured a young Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sheridan Smith playing gun moll Tallulah.