A HORSE walks into a bar and the barman says, ‘Why the long face? We beat Everton 2-1’.

That was the joke of the day at the The Princess Royal in Yorkshire Street, Burnley, after a horse was ridden into the pub on Saturday night a few hours after Burnley beat Everton 2-1 at Turf Moor.

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At around 8pm, Paul Lorriman, dad of the pub’s landlady Justine, was alerted to the horse walking in by one of his bar managers.

He said: “My bar manager, Ben, walked up to me and he said, I’m not joking but a horse and rider has just walked into the bar.

“I was actually sat in the next room at a 50th birthday party and I came out and there he was sat on his horse.

“His name is Jason Gorton, he comes past here on his horse quite a bit and was just having a laugh.

“People’s imaginations go wild when they see something like this has happened but it honestly was harmless. People were patting the horse, stroking him, kissing him. It didn’t cause any bother.

“And what a good horse it was as well. You should have seen the way Jason just backed him out the door.

“I can’t quite believe it’s gone viral but everyone had a bit of fun, he’s got a beautiful and it was out within two minutes.”

Mr Lorriman, 54, has been looking after the pub while his daughter has been away abroad.

A video soon spread across social media following the Clarets’ victory and yesterday morning, a comical sign was put outside the pub saying ‘A horse walks into a bar and the barman says ‘Why the long face? We beat Everton 2-1’.

A 77-year-old regular at the pub said he saw no reason why the horse should not have been allowed in.

He said: “You can bring dogs into some pubs, why not horses?

“I didn’t see what happened.

“But I grew up on a farm and so I had horses, pigs and sheep around me all the time.

“I’d love having a horse in a pub.

“They’ve done a lot for us, horses, over time and I think it was a completely harmless thing. They have every right to be in here.”