A PUB landlord has married the love of his life after 20 years of romance.

Landlord of Maldon’s Queen Victoria James Burrell married his fiancé Paul Cooke at Moot Hall.

Family, friends and pub regulars gathered in the high street to catch a glimpse of the happy couple.

The two first met at the Army and Navy Pub in Chelmsford 20 years ago in May.

James worked in the aviation industry for 22 years and worked as a cabin crew member for British Airways at the time.

Paul, who was originally from Cumbria, went to Writtle College to study horticulture.

The pair met up and hit it off and after a few weeks, decided to stay together.

James said: “We’ve been happily together ever since and this year, Paul said we should probably tie the knot.

“We haven’t had our honeymoon yet since there’s so much work to do at the pub, but we will soon.”

The reception was set to be held on the day at the pub with a marquee dressed up in the car park.

Local businesses joined in to make the day special, including TC2 hairdressers doing the hair of the bridesmaids.

With 105 guests, the couple had coaches pick up family and friends from Billericay and Ingatestone.

Mr Burrell said that day was fantastic.

He said: “It was a magical day.

“The Moot Hall is an amazing place to get married. It has so much history to it.

“We set off from the pub at around 10am and Paul and I decided to walk up.

“It’s because on the day, you don’t usually get to speak about how the day will run and it was nice to have a chat on the way.”

After getting married by one of their customers and seeing people off, the grooms and friends decided to stay and have a drink at the Oakhouse.

James added: “There was a moment we thought ‘hang on, how will we get back’.

“So in the end, we hopped on the 31X bus back.

“It must have been such a delight to the customers on the bus seeing ten people in their finery riding the bus.

“In the evening we had our reception and the next day, we had our pub quiz and made it wedding themed.

“It was a great day.”