No room at the inns

Nearly 400 mourners attended the funeral for Mr Matthews, a Romany Gipsy who had lived in nearby Effingham for 45 years. One of those who attended was his great-niece Ann Wilson who works as a Gypsy and Traveller Community Development Worker for Surrey Community Action.

But she said the occasion was tainted by the fact that many of the pubs in Bookham, Fetcham and Leatherhead decided to close after hearing about the funeral.

She said: "There may have been one or two that would go into a pub, but because of driving issues, no one was going to drink.

"I don't understand because a wake was ready anyway, it was at the Church Hall in Leatherhead, and people would have gone straight there and not anywhere else.

"There was somewhere for people to go."

She added: "It put an atmosphere around the funeral that we didn't need."

Mr Matthews' daughter Rose Brazil, 66, of Chester Road, Effingham, said: "It wasn't nice, was it? We have never been in any trouble before or anything like that."

Many landlords said they decided to close the pubs saying they acted on advice given to them by Surrey Police.

Keith Huddlestone, the manager of The Running Horse, in Bridge Street, Leatherhead, claims he had a warning from police about the funeral.

He said: "We were warned that there was a travellers' funeral going on.

"Since the wake finished at about 5.30pm, we closed until 7.30pm just in case it did come into town.

"We opened again at 7.30pm. We were the only pub open."

The holding manager of The Bell in Fetcham, who did not wish to be named, said: "We closed at 2pm and didn't open all evening.

"We were advised to stay shut by the police and our area manager.

"It was because of the travellers' funeral. They said there could be a number of travellers looking for somewhere to drink.

"We were told all the pubs in Bookham would shut through the afternoon to the evening."

But Surrey Police has denied it advised pubs to shut.

Mole Valley Neighbourhood Inspector John Tadman said: "More than 200 mourners were expected to attend the service, which is why officers approached local pubs in Bookham in a bid to secure their car parking facilities for the large procession, and to ease congestion around Bookham village.

"We also felt it was responsible to notify local licensees they may have several hundred customers using their premises at once.

"Local pubs in Bookham, and Leatherhead, where the wake was taking place, decided of their own volition to close."