They bloody well did not pay

Landlord, Mike Bell

Offered lunch, he said: "A little bit, not much.

"I have to stay awake to give a speech today.

"I stayed up late last night, watching Vice President Gore and Governor Bush give their speeches on television."

President Clinton shared a �6.95 serving of gambo prawns, a �5.25 portion smoked trout and pecan nut pate and a �5.95 club sandwich with about 10 black-suited secret service men.

He also downed a �1.30 half-pint of organic Pitfields lager, made in Britain from New Zealand ingredients, and a Diet Coke, while his secret service men drank Coke.

After serving the leader of the free world, landlord Mike Bell asked: "Who picks up the tab for this?"

But the total bill has yet to be tallied because a power cut struck the area just before the visit and the electronic till was not working.

Clinton: 'I can relax'

"They bloody well did not pay," said Mr Bell.

"I do not know what the total bill is because the computer went down and the electricity was off.

"But I have got an address of someone in America I can send the bill to.

"We could not offer him a hot meal.

"We gave him anything we could cook without electricity. It was total chaos.

'Swarmed' upon

The 59-year-old said he found out about the surprise visit 20 minutes early when "men in black" arrived to see if the pub was safe.

While the American president was in the bar, oyster delivery man Jonathan Dunhill was "swarmed" upon by secret service men.

They wanted to inspect his delivery of shellfish from Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland to see if it contained a bomb, Mr Bell said.

President Clinton then chatted about Northern Ireland and the long-running US presidential election battle to the other lunchtime drinkers.

'Last stretch'

He appeared "unusually relaxed", said Mr Bell.

"He gave me the impression that this sort of thing was not the kind of thing that he would have done a few years ago.

"He told me, 'I'm in the last stretch of my presidency so I can relax a little'.

"There were a lot of Americans here when he arrived and they were saying, 'How are you?' to Mr Clinton and how strange it was that he was on their doorstep even though they were not at home."