THERE was much feasting and rejoicing in a pub this week as a prodigal bar stool was welcomed home after several weeks in the wilderness.
Dorking watering hole The Spotted Dog has finally been reunited with the red velour-upholstered seat which was rescued from the middle of the road by West Street resident Georgina Hunt in August.
As the Advertiser reported at the time, the 32-year-old took in the errant item of furniture after finding it lost and alone outside her flat one Saturday night.
Calling around the town's pubs to find its owner, she was told time and again that no, no-one was missing such a stool.
But Spotted Dog landlord Barry McCann has now come forward to reclaim the seat following the storm of publicity whipped up by our article.
A grateful Mr McCann said: "We couldn't believe that someone had walked out with a bar stool. It's the first time one has ever walked in my five-and-a-half years here.
"My customers were absolutely incensed when it went missing. We had search parties out, and put a sign outside saying, 'Lost: one bar stool'."
But all the while, the four-legged, wooden, backless chair was just a couple of hundred yards away, cluttering up Miss Hunt's home.
The Kuoni customer service worker said: "In a way I'll be sad to see it go because you kind of get accustomed to things and it actually matches quite a lot of things in my wardrobe.
"Looking at it from a feminine perspective, it ties in nicely. Had it been a green colour I might not have considered taking it in."
Told Miss Hunt would happily accept a gin and tonic by way of reward, Mr McCann added: "We could even make it a large one.
"We're absolutely, enormously grateful to Georgina. We didn't know what to do without it."
