A little girl brought a lump to her dad’s throat, after she wrote to the Queen to ask her to save his job.

Paul Oxenham, 37, was the manager of The Phoenix, until the pub in Tufton, Ashford was forced to close its doors in recent weeks.

Mr Oxenham, who also managed The Man of Kent for eight years, came home to find his daughter Millie with the letter in her hand.

In it, the eight-year-old asks Queen Elizabeth to buy the pub so that her dad, and all the staff, can once more work there.

The Victoria Road Primary pupil also asks that they each be paid £200 per week, but that her dad should get £300, promising her a tattoo if she does so.

Millie ends her letter with a request that the Queen “say ‘hi’ to the butler for me.”

Drummond Grove resident Mr Oxenham said: “I got home and she told me what she had done, and it brought a lump to my throat if I’m honest with you.

“There are probably some cynical people out there who think I put her up to this, but I can promise you that’s not the case, it was all her own idea.

“The people I worked with are like my extended family. To find out I’d lost my job, and then to have to tell them they’d lost their jobs, was the hardest thing.

“But the fact that Millie was thinking about them, as well as me, it’s just not the sort of thing you expect from a girl of her age. Maybe there’s hope for the future of our country after all.

“Say ‘hi’ to the butler for me” - Millie in her letter to the Queen

“The staff have all seen the letter, and they think it’s lovely. I’m so proud of her.”

The pub was one of five in Kent, and 185 nationally, put at risk after Bramwell Pubs and Bars fell into administration.

Asked about the pub’s future, Mr Oxenham added: “Nothing would delight me more than for some property portfolio manager to come in and save the place, and take us all on as staff.

"But unfortunately, in the business world, I don’t think that’s likely to happen.”