Supporting role Rupert Everett starts pulling pints to save his local pub

A visitor to the Swan at Enford, a thatched pub tucked away in the folds of the Wiltshire countryside, had a pleasant surprise when they were served a pint by one of the UK's best-known actors.

- Steven Morris

"They had come in off the main road and they asked if it was my pub," said Rupert Everett, the star of such films as The Happy Prince and My Best Friend's Wedding. "I lied at first and said: 'Yes it is.' I couldn't resist. But I'm not the gay Jeremy Clarkson. I'm only a tiny cog in a large wheel here."

Unlike most actors, Everett has been working behind the bar not because he has fallen on hard times. Instead, his shifts are part of a grand community effort to save the Swan, which faced closure until villagers stepped in and began to maintain a building that has been at the heart of the community for more than 350 years.

He also joined the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), which fights for the future of pubs like the Swan, and an image of him working at the pub went viral.

Everett said he had lived in the local area since he was a boy.

He said: "I've known the pub through various incarnations. It's closed a couple of times and the people in our village suddenly realised we really needed it for some kind of community cohesion.