A RAGING pub owner told a village to "f**k off" in a note on the parish hall noticeboard after being reported to police for an alleged Covid breach.

Furious Keith Waterhouse was visited by cops after reports his daughter was staying against the rules at the Badger's Holt pub on Exmoor.

He penned the expletive-ridden response, which was posted on the Bridgetown Village Hall noticeboard, after the second visit from officers.

He wrote: "Whoever the nasty, vindictive b****** is that reports me to the police for a completely incorrect breach of Covid rules, have the ******** to talk to me first and find out the truth.

“And secondly, oh just **** off.

“Keith at the pub.”

Keith has run the pub in the small Exmoor village for 15 years and said police had twice been round since the pandemic began.

The alleged breaches were around his daughter who he claimed was a single parent and allowed to visit as she was within his "bubble."

He added: "She first came to see us in August and some nasty person in the village phoned the police.

"She was allowed to be here then and she’s now living here. There has been no breach of the Covid rules."

Police officers have also now confirmed he has not breached the rules.

But Keith, 56, a former science teacher, city trader and parish councillor added: said he had no regrets about posting the aggressive note.

He added: "The police initially came within 14 hours of my daughter arriving with her children. She is living with us for a bit which she is perfectly entitled to do.

"I am now trying to find this nasty vindictive person but I don't know who it is.

"I will find out who it was. This is such a quiet backwater village but my note was taken off the noticeboard within hours.

"It maybe a bit aggressive, but they deserve it.

"The village is made up with retired people who have all got issues with worrying about Covid and that is entirely reasonable. But we have been closed the whole thing and don't go and see anyone.

"My daughter is a single mother of two small children and it is such an aggressive and vindictive thing to do.

"I am very tempted to put another notice - telling whoever was responsible to pack their bags.

"It is a dead village. All the people talking about it do not come into the pub. The only people that come in are friends so I don't see any problem p***ing off the rest of the village. I have been here 15 years and know how the land lies.

"But I do what to find out who the nasty, vindictive person was. We have not done anything to anyone, we just run the pub."

Keith says he is not aware of anyone who would have an issue with him, but urged anyone who did to speak to him directly.

He added: "We aren't aware of any issues with anyone. Nothing happens here. I stand by my language and live with that. But I am not targetting the whole village - it is specifically the person who phoned the police - not the village as a whole.

"They don't have the guts to just ask me so I have no sympathy for them. I am walking around here all the time so they can just come and talk to me. But this is nothing more than malicious.

"If they want to confront me and say what the grudge is, I would be happy to have that conversation. But they are doing it secretly so I don't know who I am dealing with or what the problem is. Hence the note. I realise it comes across as a bit aggressive but that's the way I felt."

A spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset Police confirmed officers attended Mr Waterhouse's home and that no offences were recorded.