Long-serving reporter Tom Moore, who worked for The Argus in Brighton and was famed for his ability to write countless stories from the edge of a bar stool, has died.

Tom, who was in his 60s, passed away following his return to his birthplace in Scotland several years ago.

He had grown up in Sussex and enjoyed a career at The Argus spanning nearly 30 years.

He joined the paper in the late sixties as chief reporter in Crawley, where he was usually to be found in The George Hotel supping ale.

Former colleague Jim Hatley, 51, recalled a typical incident when the Pope visited Britain in the eighties.

He said: "Newsdesk decided they wanted a colour piece on the Pope's arrival at Gatwick at the last minute and tracked Tom down to a bar.

"He sat there at the bar and 15 minutes later produced an absolutely perfect feature in his notebook. He was a true old professional and a really nice, gentle man."

Tom always found the pub to be a better source of stories than the newsroom, and his patch was between The Basketmakers and the Wagon and Horses in the North Laine, where he could often be found drinking with ex-wife Valerie Moore.

Argus columnist Adam Trimingham, who worked with Tom for many years, said: "He didn't go much beyond that area. If you gave him some small titbit of information he would turn it into something magical without getting anything wrong.

"He was my idea of a reporter and looked like one, with his big cheerful red face.

"He was very well liked and a cheerful outgoing soul."

Adam remembered one time during a Lebanese conflict when Tom was required to expand on the difference between Shia and Sunni Muslims by interviewing a councillor who worked at the University of Sussex. The academic called Adam afterwards in distress, concerned that Tom had been drinking and likely to get this sensitive topic wrong.

Adam said: "I told him not to worry and the next day it appeared and the councillor said he got everything absolutely correct. That was typical Tom."