FRIENDS and family of a former pub landlord will raise a glass in his honour at the races this weekend.

Terry Mercer died at the age of 78 in January of natural causes, an inquest heard this week, but the former champion race walker's love of sports will long be remembered.

Mr Mercer had three sons, David, Andy and Stuart, the latter of whom who died last year, and two brothers, Tony and Keith.

Andy Mercer was at the inquest on Wednesday, which concluded Mr Mercer had died from bronchopneumonia but a skull fracture received in a fall in November 2014 had contributed to his death at a York care home in January.

Andy said: "He was 78 and he had a great life, a colourful life. He was a great landlord, well recognised for looking after his beer and doing really good hand-pulled pint of Tetleys, and he had a lot of friends. People would seek him out because they knew he pulled a good pint."

Mr Mercer was the landlord at the Harts Horns pub in Silver Street, Knaresborough, and president of the Harrogate and Knaresborough licensed victuallers association (LVA). He later moved to York, and took over at the Bootham Tavern in the city in the early 1990s.

In the 1950s and 1960s he worked at York Carriageworks, but coroner Jonathan Leach said there was no indication asbestos had been a contributing factor to his death.

Andy said his father was a member at York Racecourse for more than 40 years, and he would be visiting the races this weekend as a tribute to his father.

He said: "A lot of people talk about him and how much they enjoyed going into the tavern. He was a big fan of York Racecourse and loved going to the races. When I've gone to the racecourse over the last few years when he couldn't go as he was too weak, I used to spend 30 minutes telling people about how he was.

"We will be raising a glass to him this weekend, there are quite a lot of his friends who still go racing and have good memories of him and he managed to fit a lot into his life."