Villagers are seeing stars as a mother and son who swapped the UK for New England have brought a touch of Hollywood to a Rother Valley pub.

Rita MacMunn and her son, Daniel, are the new faces at the White Horse in Rogate.

Their backstory is incredible as Rita had some huge clients with her own trade show business, while Daniel rubbed shoulders with Idris Elba and Halle Berry over the pond.

But even though their accent may be Bostonian thanks to four decades in Massachusetts, their roots are firmly English as Rita’s hometown is Portsmouth while her children were both in Emsworth and Chiswick.

“I followed my parents to America and I went to Dallas first, but I didn’t like it,” said White Horse owner, Rita.

“I worked for a trade show company in Texas and they moved me to Boston, where I stayed for 40 years.

“I worked my way up, had my own company when I was 34 and it was really successful.”

General manager Daniel wasn’t keen on Dallas, either – not enough rain, too dry – and moved to New York in his early 20s with dreams of getting into acting or writing. It didn’t go to plan.

“One of my first waiting jobs was at a kosher Italian restaurant and we had a rabbi onsite all the time – all the knives had to be blessed,” said the mixologist.

“I ended up getting a job at a place called Carolines on Broadway and I was there with Idris Elba before he became big on The Wire. I was fascinated by the bar work because they would make 700 cocktails a night.”

A stint working at a Hollywood joint with a lot of “ultra famous” regulars followed before he sold everything, bought an RV and did seasonal jobs, working summers in Colorado and winters in Death Valley.

The turning point came in 2020 when Daniel got stuck in the UK during Covid and decided to stay, eventually moving to Clanfield. He and his mum always dreamt of running a pub, so they started looking and they eventually snapped up the freehold to the White Horse.

There’s another East Hampshire connection as head chef Aaron Taylor moved from the Rising Sun along with sous chef Isla Grazina. And while there might be the occasional US dish on the specials board, don’t expect a brash Stateside makeover as the new owners want to keep things traditional, with a focus on freshness.

Rita said: “The villagers have been so welcoming and most are so happy the pub is open again.

“We want to keep a pub style, but we are doing to try out some stuff on the specials that were a hit in America to see how they go down,” said Daniel, who added that cocktails will obviously feature.

“But we want it to be family friendly and a place for everyone to eat or just have a pint – most of all, we want it to be part of the village.”