Eric Light has been running The Salmon Leap in Totton since September 1994 and has turned it into a popular community pub, which was crowned the Daily Echo's pub of the year in June. 

Tomorrow, it will be son Shane and his partner Sanna Byles behind the bar after Eric sold the pub to Punch Taverns and the couple took on the role of publicans. 

(Image: Newsquest / Lorelei Reddin) READ MORE: Secluded New Forest pub is in the Good Beer Guide again

62-year-old Eric, who also has two daughters and five grandchildren, says he will miss the place, but will be kept busy overseeing the refurbishment of his other pub, The Musketeer Pennington, and entertaining his 17-week-old spaniel puppy Honey.

He told the Daily Echo: "I've spent 30 years making this the sort of pub I would use as a customer and now I'm going to do just that. I'm looking forward to not having to be the first person to arrive and the last to leave. I won't be in every day, but I've bought a house in Totton and I'll enjoy coming in for a few pints. 

"There have been ups and downs over the years, but I've made some fantastic friends here. 

"I'll still be here to help Shane and Sanna and work on the other pub, which is in the village I was born in and was my father's local and my grandfather's local."

(Image: The Salmon Leap) Shane, who moved into the pub just a few days before his seventh birthday, has been working there for the past three years and won't be making too many changes to begin with.

He added: "The pub has been a big part of my life and we thought we'd give running it a go and see how we get on. 

"It's a very different pub to what it was back then, but there's lots of the same faces as well as so many more people visiting now. I've known some of the staff and locals most of my life and consider them a second family.

"Dad runs a tight ship so why rock the boat?"

(Image: The Salmon Leap, Totton)