Additional reporting by Gerry Warren

A former landlord has told how his life running the pub he called home was “destroyed” by three drunken customers who broke his arm in a shocking attack.

Barry Holmes, 78, who ran Lesters in Margate, had to undergo surgery and was left so profoundly affected by the brutal assault that he and his wife Susan called time on their 13-year tenancy.

Having lived above the pub, it meant the devoted couple - who have been together for 45 years - also had to find a new home.

Now, a judge at Canterbury Crown Court has told the men responsible for the attack - Taylor Porter, Simon Brockhouse and George Cooper - that the need to both protect pub landlords and deter others from such violence meant immediate imprisonment could not be avoided.

Speaking to KentOnline after the three men were jailed, Mr Holmes said: "Our pub was our home but they came in and destroyed it."

The "boisterous and aggressive" trio from Margate had been boozing for several hours in Lesters when Mr Holmes, then aged 75, came under attack after he asked them to stop swearing.

A drink was hurled at him across the bar before he was subjected to a barrage of blows from fists and even a chair.

At one point in the five-minute fracas the licensee was hit so hard he went flying backwards and struck his head "with a massive thud" against a wall skirting.

Mrs Holmes was also pushed and shoved by the marauding thugs, along with other customers who tried to intervene.

One described the incident as "horrific" while another said she felt helpless as she watched such "disgraceful and disgusting" behaviour.

Porter, 25, Brockhouse, 26, and 25-year-old Cooper were arrested just a few hours after the brawl on April 2, 2022, and were later charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm.

They denied this but admitted the less serious offence of affray - a plea accepted by the prosecution in December last year.

At their sentencing hearing on Friday, scaffolder Brockhouse wept and Cooper, who is a full-time carer for his aunt, shook his head as they were all locked up.

Porter, a groundworker who recently became a dad, remained impassive in the dock throughout proceedings.

Prosecutor Rebecca Steels told the court the three men had been in the Ramsgate Road pub since early afternoon - drinking, playing pool and socialising.

But as the day wore on they became "increasingly animated, boisterous and were swearing", she said.

"They were told several times to mind their language but there was no change in their behaviour," added Ms Steels.

At about 9pm Mr Holmes spoke to them to say they had already been warned to keep the swearing down, only to be met with belligerent retorts of "We ain't f***ing swearing" and "Who the f*** are you?"

The atmosphere turned even more menacing after the three friends were told if they did not curb the obscenities they would be refused service and asked to leave.

Ms Steels told the court: "This led to an increase in aggression and Mr Cooper threw a drink in Mr Holmes's face. [The landlord] was then asked to go outside to fight.

"Mr Holmes declined and asked them to leave. They began shouting loudly and aggressively."

At this point Mrs Holmes stepped in to take a glass off Cooper as she was worried he would use it as a weapon, the court heard.

However, the violence erupted, with the defendants swinging several punches at the landlord.

"Mr Holmes said the first punch missed but the second hit him. He threw a single punch back in self-defence and, in his words, chaos resulted,” the prosecutor said.

"A chair was used against him and chairs were flying all over the place. He went down to the floor at least twice during the attack."

A customer was another target and Mrs Holmes herself feared further violence from the "clearly angry" men.

"Public violence on this scale is unacceptably serious...”

"One witness described Mr Holmes being punched and falling backwards, hitting his head on a wall with 'a massive thud'," added the prosecutor.

Police were called and the thugs eventually fled, leaving behind a motorbike helmet.

Mr Holmes went to hospital, where he had a metal plate and screws fixed into his left arm. He also had a 3x3cm wound to his head.

Porter, of Mere Gate, Brockhouse of College Road, and Cooper, also of Mere Gate, were identified by police and all arrested at the same address four hours later.

Porter and Brockhouse gave 'no comment' interviews while Cooper denied injuring anyone and said he had tried to pull people away.

Ms Steels said the incident left both Mr Holmes, who also had to have physiotherapy, and his wife "very wary" and eventually having to quit the pub.

The court was told Porter, who has nine previous convictions for 16 offences including assaulting police, threatening behaviour and possession of a bladed article, had been the "the main aggressor" that night.

However, Alexa Le Moine, defending, said his actions were "out of character with the individual he has now grown into".

She also said that Cooper, who has no previous convictions, had behaved "entirely out of character" and was both ashamed and remorseful.

Philip Hill, defending Brockhouse, who has 15 offences to his name, including battery and threatening behaviour, said that although he had been involved in "joint violence", he had not "specifically attacked an elderly gentleman".

"Some offences are just too serious to be dealt with by anything other than a sentence of imprisonment...”

The barrister also argued that to jail him so long after the offence itself would "hit him very hard indeed".

But on passing sentence, Judge Simon James said that their offending was "just too serious" for him to suspend their prison terms.

Jailing Porter for 14 months and his co-defendants for 10 months each, he told them: "Public violence on this scale is unacceptably serious.

"Publicans subjected to unlawful violence in the course of providing a service are entitled to look to the courts for protection.

"This public disorder involved each of you acting together in a group, targeting the landlord and landlady of a pub for no more than asking you to mind your language.

"It involved the use of sustained and serious violence, with chairs as improvised weapons, during a persistent incident.

"Customers were not only forced to witness your violence but, at times, drawn into your aggression.

"This was a cowardly and prolonged attack by three fit, drunk and needlessly aggressive young men against a 75-year-old man and a middle-aged woman who were just trying to do their job.

"The impact has been understandably profound. After more than a decade running and living above the pub, the incident left them feeling compelled to give up the tenancy and move away from their home.

"Some offences are just too serious to be dealt with by anything other than a sentence of imprisonment and the necessity to protect those running licensed premises means I am forced to add an element of deterrence into your punishments."

While Mr and Mrs Holmes have moved on with their lives since the ordeal, the memory of the attack has never left them.

The couple told KentOnline they were loving their jobs as hosts of the "family-friendly" pub when their world came crashing down.

"When we took on Lesters, it wasn't great,” said Mr Holmes, who previously worked as a funeral director.

"We set about cleaning the place up and making it welcoming for families.

"And it worked. We created a great business with lovely customers and it was a rewarding challenge - until those three walked in and ruined it.

"Our pub was our home but they came in and destroyed it."

Mr Holmes, an ex-paratrooper, says he might have been able to take on his attackers in his younger days.

"I could look after myself, but in my mid-70s and with three of them, I didn't stand a chance," he said.

Yet despite his injuries, including an arm in plaster, Mr Holmes was back behind the bar two weeks after the attack.

"I had a business to run and just had to get on with it, but it was never the same for us," he said.

"We just felt on edge and unnerved when anyone new walked in.

"The love of the job had gone and we decided to call it a day."

The grandparents are now retired and living a quiet life in their bungalow near Birchington.

"We won't ever forget what happened and it wasn't the way we wanted to leave the business," said Mr Holmes.

The couple were later shocked to learn that two of the three attackers had many previous convictions, including for violence.

"The sentence seems pretty lenient when you look at their records but I hope it makes them think twice in future," he said.