TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular figure on the local music scene who died last week.

Peter Goude, 69, was well-known in the area as a singer and frontman of various bands in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

When not performing on stage, Mr Goude was a landlord, spending 30 years as a licensee managing bars in the UK and abroad.

With wife Hazel, he had a successful spell living in Tenerife where the two managed a number of popular bars, welcoming holidaying Barrovians with open arms.

After returning to the area he ran the Golden Ball in Dalton, before relocating to Nantwich in 2008 to run The Oddfellows Arms.

He passed away in his sleep in the early hours of Saturday January 13.

Dave McGerty paid tribute to his close friend and former bandmate.

He said: "Peter was a tremendous vocalist and a great entertainer and frontman."

"We started off together in Small World in the late 70s. I needed a vocalist and Peter's name came up - we were very close ever since."

"He'd come out on stage and from the second he started he would have the audience in the palm of his hand.

"But beyond all that, he was a nice lad. Everyone who knew him liked him, and there will be many who will be sad to see him gone."

After Small World, the pair featured in Breaker and Forever, becoming a familiar fixture on the local gigging scene. They were joined in Forever by another close friend, Barry Parsons.

Mr Parsons added: “I am shocked and saddened by his passing. We were the best of pals for years, myself, Peter and Dave McGerty.

"He was not only a good singer and entertainer, but also very good on the Amateur Dramatics front, where he was a top performer.

"He was such a popular figure and front man, if we got a bit nervous he would always pull us through he was first class and would take the pressure off us."

"It is so sad, along with our wives we used to go on holidays together and had some great times we were always laughing”

Mr Goude was also known as a skilled compere who hosted the well-attended Pop Proms in the Civic Hall in the 1980s, an event which saw the best of local groups and artists take to the stage.

He then forged an enjoyable life in the sunnier climes of Tenerife, where he ran Munroe's bar in Los Cristianos before taking on a smaller establishment in Las Americas.

Upon returning to Barrow he took over the Golden Ball in Dalton and served as a compere at the Nines, before moving on once more to Nantwich in Cheshire where he be came to be a very popular landlord of The Oddfellows Arms.

Mr Goude ran "The Oddy" until taking retirement last year.

He will be remembered as an outstanding entertainer and welcoming landlord, with a legacy that spans from Furness to Cheshire via Tenerife.