KEITH Flint fined drinkers in his country boozer when they made gags about The Prodigy, replied personally to negative TripAdvisor reviews and sung along to country music.

In 2014 The Prodigy frontman bought and renovated The Leather Bottle pub in the Essex village of Pleshey.

In a previous interview he recalled how he had a jar that customers had to pay a pound into every time they made a "firestarter" joke when he lit the pub's fire.

He said: "We’ve got an open fire, and I’ve got about 60 quid in a pint pot on the mantelpiece because every time I light it, the Firestarter jokes come out, and boom, I’m like, that’s very funny, you owe me a pound.

“The money goes in and then off to charity.”

REPLIED TO TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS

Flint also replied personally to negative TripAdvisor reviews.

In one review, a punter moaned: "The radio was playing as background music and the service was not what I was expecting."

Flint replied saying: "The thing is, if I'd been in there on the real ales or had a couple of Jägers inside of me, the radio will creep up…

"You can always tell who the landlord is because he's at the end of the bar drinking halves, but he's been there eight hours – he's had about twelve halves."

In another review, a customer described his pub as "awful" and went on to say "don't let the fancy food fool you into thinking the chef can cook".

Responding to that Flint said: "This is the very reason I don't read reviews normally. This is someone's opinion, they're entitled to it.

"I suppose that I'm in there enough to see happy faces and happy people, so the physical feedback is the only feedback I can take on board."

'VERY SPICY, VERY FRIENDLY'

Another customer Les Taylor, who moved to Pleshey, Essex, three years ago with his wife, said the music icon was sociable and "liked to mingle with people".

Speaking inside the pub, he said: "We were sitting here one day and this guy came strolling in and it was Keith.

"He was only a little fella, about five foot seven, he had a cap covering his hair, I think he had riding boots on, he'd come down on his horse from his house up the next village, and he said 'Hello everyone, how the f*** are ya?"

"That was the way his character was, very spicy, very friendly."

He said Flint used to drink an amber ale called Firestarter, which he said he thought was brewed locally.

He added: "He was a larger-than-life character, he wasn't up himself at all, very friendly, liked to chat and he did a lot to the pub."

LISTENED TO COUNTRY MUSIC

Flint, who became the face of the British rave scene, listened to country music in his Essex pub that he ran until 2017.

Punter Dave Kerton said: "He wanted to be a country gent and would turn up in his tweed, but when we’d take his hat off you’d see these blue and green devil spikes.

“When he got smashed he just got really bouncy and would jump about the place and sing along to music.

“His favourite were tracks by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. He used to turn the music down and sign 'Islands in the Stream'".

He added: "Once we were saving up to raise money for a guide dog.

“Keith found out and got his bandmates to sign one of their brand new CDs and we auctioned it for £380.

“We were £40 off our target and he just said ‘here you go’. That’s the sort of bloke he was.

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“He was part of the community. He would ring up his bar tab and it would get up to £5,000 or something and he’d just pay it up.

"The bar tab was so high because he'd buy everyone drinks."

The iconic music star was found dead at his Essex home this morning after he "took his own life" at the age of 49.

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