RAIDERS who have relieved a Stourport pub of 200 advertising boards over the past two-and-a-half-years are no angels - but the landlord is looking on the funny side.

Ray Cox, who runs The Angel on Severn Side, has persisted in putting up the coveted boards on the corner of York Street and Lion Hill even though they have been disappearing at the rate of about two a week. Ray Cox is running out of ideas to stop thieves pinching advertising boards like this one from the corner of York Street and Lion Hill.

Despite offering a £25 reward for information, chaining the chalk boards to a road sign and racing down Mart Lane at closing time to collar the miscreants, Mr Cox has drawn a blank.

Why anyone would want so much plywood is beyond him.

"What do they want with them? Is there a chalk board graveyard somewhere?" said Mr Cox, 55, who took over the reins at the riverside pub in 2000.

"Sometimes I lie in bed and have a picture of a big pile of plywood."

He has not provided any fodder for the thieves for 10 days but he has pledged to keep on putting out the boards, which cost between £5 and £10 each, to drum up business.

"As far as I'm concerned it's the only way I can promote activities down here," Mr Cox added.

Ideas for fending off future unwanted attention include staking out the site and enlisting the help of the Almighty.

"You've got to have a laugh about it - I'm fed up of being angry."