A PUB boss could have blown his top when he came home from Oktoberfest in Germany to find his flat filled with more than 2,000 balloons.

But Ward Hogben saw the funny side when he caught his staff red-handed still blowing up balloons in his room at the White Hart in Broadoak.

“It’s all good fun, and certainly nothing I’m not used to with some of the pranks they play,” he said. “I came home and tried the door, and there was this resistance, then I forced it open to see the room rammed with balloons, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“It’s not every day you come home to find your room filled like that… I didn’t know what to say.

“But we’re a great team and I can take a joke. We like to have fun after getting the job done, it makes for a happy staff.

“We’ve cling-filmed stuff in the past, put chilli in food as pranks, that sort of thing. But I’m keeping my powder dry for now, I’ll get them when they least expect it.”

The balloon prank last Wednesday (September 26) was the ‘wicked wheeze’ of Jack Horrobin from Littledean, as the prank to end all pranks before he started studying law at Oxford University this week.

Helping him out providing the puff for 2,300 balloons were fellow staff members Chloe James, Eliza Senior-Fellows, Harry McGrath and Kerry Shingler.

“It took us from closing time after 11pm to 4am blowing them up, then a couple of hours next day, and he actually caught us red-handed, because we were still doing the last 100 or so when he came home earlier than expected,” said Jack

“It was a great laugh. He was stunned to begin with, then we said ‘alright mate’ and he realised what we’d been up to.

“We work hard, but after we finish, we have some fun, and there’s been cling-filming everything in the girls’ handbags, peas in the bed, tabasco in drinks and food.

“It’s all taken in good humour. Ward’s a great boss and a great mate.

“It was my pay off after working for him for the last two years before heading off to Oxford, one big prank to finish with.

“Ward was cooking that day and we had another laugh when he had to dive into the balloons to find his whites hidden underneath.

“When I went back to say goodbye on Saturday, the room was still filled with balloons. He’s had to fight his way through to his bed and I think he’s been waking up every morning thinking it’s his birthday.