Christmas dinner at a Hampshire pub was going ahead today despite being hit by thieves.

Raiders made off with £2,000 worth of Christmas dinner meat including goose and two whole turkeys from the Alice Lisle pub in the New Forest.

But customers booked for Christmas dinner will not be disappointed as local suppliers rallied round to save the day.

Staff at the pub in Ringwood arrived to work yesterday to find the door of their walk in freezer broken and all the festive food, to be served up for Christmas dinner missing.

The family pub in Rockford Green is fully booked for Christmas dinner today with 80 people due to eat their festive meal at the countryside watering hole.

Manager Alan Dyson said the theft has shocked everyone at the pub, but reassured customers that Christmas dinner would go ahead after local food suppliers brought in extra supplies at the last minute.

"It is an unbelievable thing to happen. We had around £2,000 worth of meat including goose breast, steaks, a fillet of beef and two turkeys.

"Thankfully the managers at Coopers Seafood and Conisbee Butchers have really helped us out.

"They had both sent staff home for Christmas but after hearing what happened rallied around to get us some replacement food this afternoon."

Alan, who runs the pub with his wife Maxine, said his chef and kitchen staff have been working hard to prepare the meal for today.

"We have most of what we need but may have to make a few minor tweaks to the Christmas dinner menu."

"I don't know if its down to the credit crunch or just the way things are in today's world but can't believe this would happen at Christmas."

"The police are investigating but I guess after lunchtime they won't have anything left to recover," he added.