Popular Trowbridge landlord and musician Alan “Peewee” Victor Hunt, who ran several pubs in the town, died at Bath’s Royal United Hospital on Tuesday, aged 69, after a battle with cancer.

Peewee, who took his nickname from an American jazz musician, was born on March 3, 1945, in Birmingham, where he grew up. He joined the navy as a 16-year-old, and served on the HMS Ark Royal in 1961 as a boy signalman.

When he came out of the navy after 12 years, Mr Hunt moved to Frome where he met his wife Marjorie Green and they had two children, Cailean and Ashley.

He also had two other children, Danielle and Elliot, from later relationships after his marriage ended, and one grandchild.

Mr Hunt and his wife moved to Norton St Philip, where he worked as a car salesman until he was offered the opportunity to take on his first bar in Trowbridge after a chance meeting.

Mr Hunt walked past the bar in Castle Street, which is now the Domino’s pizza takeaway, when he got talking to the owner who offered him the chance of a lease at £3,000 for 19 years. He renamed the bar, which was originally Tadpoles Wine Bar, and called it Peewee’s Real Ale Bar, and it became a favourite among punks, hippies, Goths and bikers.

Mr Hunt also ran Route 66, at the bottom of Wicker Hill, for a short time, before taking on The White Swan in Church Street, where he was landlord for 10 years.

He then moved to re-open Peewee’s Real Ale Bar two doors down from The White Swan, in the premises which is now The Black Pearl, which was where it remained until he called last orders, after 30 years of business, in 2011.

Before starting his career in the pub trade, Mr Hunt had worked as an actor, comedian and musician in comedy band Mechanical Horsetrough, which toured all over the world.

He also formed Lucy la Stique in the mid-1980s as the house band at Peewee’s Real Ale Bar, which also went on to tour professionally. He was a strong supporter of local music and gave many local bands their first chance to appear in front of an audience.

Mr Hunt also published a book about his time in the navy called The Virgin Sailor, a dramatised account of life at sea as a Royal Navy Junior in the early 1960s.

His eldest son Cailean said: “He was a strong man, but if you knew him, he was a teddy bear.

“He always had a lot of love for a lot of people and was well-known and well-loved in the community.”

A date has not been set yet for Mr Hunt’s funeral, but his children have said that anyone who knew him will be welcome.