Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton pays for birthday drinks

Pop star Paul Heaton has put money behind the bar of dozens of pubs to mark his 60th birthday.

The ex-Housemartins and Beautiful South singer had planned a tour of the 60 chosen venues, but it was abandoned due to the pandemic.

Instead, he has urged fans to Quench their thirst with a toast in his honour.

In a Facebook post, Heaton said: "Enjoy a birthday drink on me (until the money runs out, or the bar runs dry!)."

He said the drinks were a way of thanking "folk who bought my records or showed me support over the years".

The Grafton, in Hull, where Heaton and his Housemartins bandmates were regulars and which inspired the group's 1986 hit Happy Hour, is among the pubs on the list.

Heaton returned to its bar with performing partner Jacqui Abbott to film a music video a few years ago.

The 60 venues include pubs in Cornwall and Scotland as well as ones in Wales, Belfast, Dublin and the West Coast of Ireland.

Heaton's original tour plan, which would have seen him cycling between venues around the UK, had to be shelved after the pandemic caused delays to the recording of his new album.

Heaton shot to fame with the Hull-based Housemartins in the early 80s.

They had two successful albums and a number of hits singles, including a cover version of Caravan of Love which reached Number One in the UK charts in December 1986.

After the band split he formed the Beautiful South in 1988.

The band became one of the biggest-selling UK acts of all time, releasing 15 albums over nine years, most of which went platinum or gold.

Heaton now performs in a duo with Beautiful South bandmate Jacqui Abbott.

Abbott recently sparked a viral hit when she tweeted the now-infamous "innocent men" blooper clip featuring CBBC star Hacker T Dog reducing presenter Lauren Layfield to fits of laughter.