Reform scored minor publicity coup across the national media in the spring when The Talbot in Blackpool became its first “branded” pub. Nigel Farage paid a visit, was photographed with co-owner Paul Flynn and pulled a pint of beer called Remainer Tears. Now reporting from the Blackpool Lead website suggests Farage has once again been unlucky with his choice of friends.

Flynn, they reveal, was previously involved with a pub called The Tangerine Tavern, which hosted far right meetings for the British National Party from 2012 to 2014. These were attended by its leader, Nick Griffin, and by a British neo-Nazi currently behind bars for plotting the murder of former Labour Party MP Rosie Cooper. 

Flynn had previously relinquished his landlord’s licence after incidents including an unlicensed boxing match and a lock-in that led to a street brawl. More recently, he has indicated ambitions to stand as an MP for Reform.