Wanted: Drinking buddy for pensioner

A PENSIONER should have some company at the pub next week after his son advertised for someone to drink with him for £7 (€8.90) an hour.

Jack Hammond, 88, from Cadnam, Hampshire, will meet candidates who have answered the 25p (32c) advertisement placed in a nearby post office by his son Michael.

Mr Hammond, a retired electrical engineer, used to drink with a neighbour four times a week in Barton-on-Sea but recently moved into a nursing home to be closer to his family.