A COUPLE who first locked eyes over a pint of spilled beer on New Year’s Eve are celebrating 70 years of marriage.

Jack McNulty, 93, swept his wife Daphne off her feet after clumsily spilling her beer in the middle of a busy bar, with the couple tying the knot just three years later.

Although he insists it was an accident, the Benfleet duo have never looked back and have gone on to travel the world together.

The adventurous pair even spent three years living in a caravan, later having their son Kevin and three grandchildren.

However, their journey hasn’t always been full of glitz and glam, with the couple kicking off married life just after the Second World War had ended.

Daphne, 91, said: “My husband served in the armed forces between 1946 to 1948, he’s still got his forces badge.

“Even when the war had ended, it seemed to go on for years after. We had family there, but our wedding was very low-key, rationing was still in great force and so you couldn’t go down the road and buy anything you wanted.

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“You couldn’t even get blankets, and we had nothing to start our married lives with. We were just glad we had each other - I still remember the night we met.

“When I went round the corner and found my parents had left, he said he couldn’t leave me on my own, and that he would have to walk me home. He then had to walk back himself about three miles.

“He asked to see me again the next day at another pub in Enfield, which we did, and it all took off from there. We got on really well straight away.”

Jack and Daphne renewed their vows during at special ceremony at Church of St Mary the Virgin in Benfleet on Sunday.

Revealing their secret to a long and happy marriage, Daphne said: “We’ve enjoyed a very good life together and have always been friends as well as lovers.

“You do have to overlook your partner’s little ways sometimes and also have common interests too. We had cycle masters, which is a cycle with an engine in the wheel, and then got two motorbikes too.”

Jack added: “In the last 30 or 40 years we’ve also belonged to the South Benfleet Bowling Club and went to places like Portugal and Spain.

“We’ve always got on really well and had a lot of fun together.”

including cruising the Mediterranean, visiting the Caribbean and travelling down the River Nile in Egypt.