Former Mayor of Gosport Wayne Ronayne claims he is innocent, but has stepped down after being banned from every pub in his village.

Like Yokozuna's title reign after he won the belt at Wrestlemania IX, Wayne Ronayne's term as Mayor of Gosport has proven to be fleeting as he has already stepped down, just 40 days after he was elected to the role. The reason? He (and his children, and his children's children) have been banned from every pub in town...for six months.

Hours after he won the vote on June 4th, he headed out to celebrate with family and friends at The Star pub on Gosport's main street, a branch of the JD Wetherspoon chain, but was asked to leave by management, who claim that he and his group "behaved badly", according to the BBC

It seems that at some stage in proceedings, the group were refused service by staff at the bar, at which point Ronayne asked to speak to management. Local press reported that there was an argument (which the former-Mayor denies) and that police had been called to the scene.

Ronayne claims that the whole thing has been blown out of proportion by "inaccurate press reports" which have damaged his reputation as a result, and as he didn't want to bring the position into disrepute, he decided to step down. He added that they left peacefully, but a Wetherspoon's spokesperson said that they didn't want him back in the pub, no matter what official position he held, and the Gosport Pub Watch council decided to ban him from every pub in the town. They also turned down his appeal to that decision. 

Apart from the fact that his apparently real name rhymes, Wayne claims that although he may have been banned from all 36 watering holes in Gosport, he arrived at the pub sober, and he left sober too, having had only one pint. It must have been the dodgy sandwich on the way home, then...

Via BBC and Breaking News. Main pic via BBC