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Make Mine A Double

Identical twins from Northumberland have joined the family business by becoming the youngest pub licensees in Britain.Andrew and James Chambers aged 18, leave drinkers at the Black Swan Inn in Seahouses seeing double as they pull pints.

The pair were granted their licences last week for the pub, run by dad Gill, 52, the landlord, and mum Norma, 53, the cook. Andrew and James, who were born six minutes apart with James the elder, are already a regular source of confusion for locals at the pub.

Andrew works full time there as a chef and works shifts behind the bar, and James helps his brother run the Black Swan when their parents go on holiday. James, who is waiting to hear if he has got an apprentice welding job in Alnwick, opted to apply for a licence after being made redundant from an apprentice plumbing job in Seahouses just after Christmas.

Andrew, who is in the final year of a chef apprenticeship at Newcastle College, had decided he would apply as soon as he reached 18 after beginning work behind the bar when a member of staff went on maternity leave. The pair have been told that they are the youngest licensees in Britain.

Proud dad Gill said: “In these days when you hear all the things going on about so many pubs closing nationally, it is nice that there is young blood coming into the business, and that young people are interested in the trade. “It is quite unique because they are very, very young.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .