A LIFE spent touring the globe with some of the world's most glamourous rock stars would be a dream for most people.

But when it came to the crunch for truck driver Terry Holcroft, life on the road with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Oasis and Michael Jackson, couldn't hold a candle to running his own pub in Blackburn.

Terry, 51, had been transporting the equipment of the rich and famous for 15 years all over Europe, until he decided to turn his back on the rock and roll lifestyle.

And now the former roadie has put down roots back in his home town by setting up in business at the Park Hotel, in Montague Street.

Terry says he took the decision to take over the pub back in March after getting fed up with life on the road and travelling up to 200,000 miles a year -- but he remembers most of the tours with fondness.

He said: "The best tour I ever went on was with Bruce Springsteen, because he used to be a truck driver and could relate to us. Although he never used to drink he would come in to the bar at the end of the night and just act like one of the boys.

"The worst was Madonna -- she just acted like a real superstar. As for Michael Jackson, well he was just weird."

Now, after an 11-week refurbishment programme, the pub is ready to open its doors to the public.

Terry said: "Being a roadie is a young man's game and I've got to the age where I don't want to be living out of a suitcase any more and I want to put down some roots.

"The money was good, but the pub will be a nest egg, hopefully, there for me when I retire.

"I want it to be a community pub as well as for the students. People will be able to get good but cheap food, like bar snacks with fresh fish seven days a week.

"It's not like hard work because I was used to it when I worked with the pop groups."