A pub landlord who was known to ban people from his pub for being boring has died at the age of 62.

Noel Reilly, former landlord of the Jude the Obscure pub in Walton Street, and The Bullingdon Arms in Cowley Road, passed away on September 5.

His son James said his father was "the perfect landlord". He said: "He has been described as a chainsmoking intellectual Irishman, a bunch of contradictions and the archetypal landlord."

Mr Reilly, a former student at Ruskin College, first got into the pub trade at The Bullingdon Arms, but moved to Swindon in 1982 to take on The Beehive pub.

It was in 1988 that he attracted the attention of the international press, when he invited philosopher and Czech dissident Dr Julius Tomin to lecture at The Beehive.

Mr Reilly left The Beehive in 1993, taking over at the Jude the Obscure, where he remained until 2001.

After leaving there, he became involved in the project to the new Far From the Madding Crowd in Oxford's Friar's Entry.

Throughout his career Mr Reilly could be unpredictable, banning people for the 'wrong hair' or for the 'sin' of drinking in another pub — but he always let them back after a few days.

Close friend John Somer described him as "generous to a fault, cantankerous and wonderful."

He added: "He was an amazing man — he helped so many people out with financial problems."

Mr Reilly died at the John Radcliffe Hospital from pneumonia. His funeral will take place at St Aloysius' Church in Banbury Road today at 11.30am.