POP star Paul Heaton stopped off at the Fox and Hounds in Cattistock on a tour of pubs to mark his 50th birthday.

The former Housemartins and The Beautiful South singer turned 50 this year and to mark this milestone he has been gigging in rural pubs on his 50/50 tour.

Rather than being chauffeured around, Paul and his support act and friend Gus Devlin have been cycling from pub to pub.

Paul said: “It’s about doing 50 miles for each year I’ve been on the planet, which is a total of 2,500 miles.

“I’m doing around 70 miles a day, today was 67.

“It’s about coming to places like Cattistock, to places where you’d normally have to catch a coach or whatever to see a gig.

“And I’ve come here and it’s pleasurable both ways because people are chuffed that you’ve come and I’m chuffed to be here.

“So it’s like a circle of happiness.”

He added: “I’ve played arenas and I’ve played places that normally have gigs and people are less enthusiastic.

“So you come to places where people are enthusiastic and pleased to have you.”

Landlady Liz Flight was instrumental in bringing the band to Dorset and said they were delighted to be a venue on the tour.

She said: “There must have been thousands of pubs interested.

“So we consider ourselves very lucky to have been chosen. One hundred and fifty tickets were sold but we could have sold hundreds more.”