Walter Trent has sold the Greystone Arms.

The buyer is not Gerald Moss.

The buyer is Dorothy Hesketh, 49, who pulled pints behind the Greystone bar for six years before leaving for Edgeminster in 2011, and who has now returned to buy the pub she grew up in.

Hesketh, who has managed two public houses in Edgeminster over the past fifteen years, submitted her offer last week in response to this newspaper’s report on the counter-bid from an unnamed local buyer. She is, it transpires, the unnamed local buyer.

Moss & Hartley Property, whose portfolio includes three former Docklands pubs — all converted to commercial premises — offered an undisclosed sum believed to be significantly higher. Trent, who has owned and operated the Greystone since 1998, chose the lower offer.

“I didn’t build this place to have it turned into offices,” Trent said, standing behind the bar for one of the last times. “Dot knows this pub. She knows this neighbourhood. And she knows what a pint should cost.”

Hesketh, who will take possession on 1 May, said she intended to keep the Greystone Arms substantially as it is. “I grew up behind that bar,” she said. “My mother brought me here on Saturdays. I learned to count change on that till. Where else would I go?”

She confirmed that the etched-glass windows — original Victorian, installed 1881 — would remain, that the snug would stay a snug, and that the bench by the window where retired harbour pilot Reg Garside has sat every morning since 2009 was not going anywhere.

Garside, informed of the sale, said: “Good.”

Patrick Seldon, foreman of the Docklands Workers’ Association, whose members have used the Greystone as an unofficial meeting place for decades, said the DWA was “relieved.” The Association had expressed concern about the potential loss of another Docklands pub to commercial conversion.

Moss was not available for comment. His office directed enquiries to a spokesperson, who said the firm “respects Mr Trent’s decision and wishes the new proprietor well.”

Hesketh said she planned to repaint the sign, fix the cellar steps, and introduce a pie menu. “Nothing dramatic,” she said. “It’s a pub. It just needs to be a pub.”

Trent’s last day behind the bar will be 30 April. He is retiring to his sister’s house in Thornhill. “I’ll come back as a customer,” he said. “Dot owes me a pint.”