AS part of The Bolton News’ We’re Backing Bolton campaign, we’re featuring local champions who support the Bolton cause. Our first is John Jewitt, landlord of Ye Olde Man and Scythe pub in Churchgate.

His wife Jaycee runs the Ye Olde Wench and Trinket shop next to the pub.

FOR landlord John Jewitt, his love of Bolton goes back almost 50 years.

He first set eyes on Ye Olde Man and Scythe, the oldest pub in Bolton, in 1966 and fell in love with the place.

Mr Jewitt realised his dream of owning the historic inn in 1996 and says he has no plans to retire from the town he calls home.

The publican is the first of The Bolton News’ local champions and is fully behind our We’re Backing Bolton campaign, which is aimed at getting Boltonians to take another look at the town as we hit the festive season.

Mr Jewitt, who puts on a re-enactment of the beheading of the Earl of Derby each year, said: “I first came into the pub in 1966 and then in the early 1990s I was working for the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, predominantly in Bolton.

“I actually took over this place on May 28, 1996, which was the anniversary of the Massacre of Bolton.

“I didn’t know it at the time but I do now.

“I always said that I would like to leave this place in the same way as the Earl of Derby — although I wouldn’t mind my head being intact.”

Mr Jewitt admits the last year has been challenging, and accepts rough waters lie ahead.

But he said: “We need people to support local businesses.

“We are still busy on a Friday and Saturday night but the daytimes are a bit quiet.

“There is a lot to find in Bolton. The shop next door, Ye Olde Wench and Trinket shop which my wife Jaycee runs, is the kind of place you would find in Warwick or Kendal yet it is right here in Bolton.

“Bury used to complain big brother Bolton was taking all the glory and they have done something about it.

“Now we need Bolton to fight back.”