The Watering Hole pub has paid tribute to their “iconic,  legendary” head chef Matt Halford who died unexpectedly at the weekend

Matt, who was in his 30s, was found unresponsive at the Perranporth Beach pub on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the emergency services, he did not recover.

A post on the Watering Hole’s Facebook page said: “With iconic legendary places that are larger than life like the watering hole, these places are made by iconic legendary characters & unfortunately we lost our MVP on Saturday.

“We always thought the most feared day would be washing away for us, but how wrong were we. We lost the best dad, friend, brother and worker this place will ever see and it's not easy saying this, but we will never find anyone like this again.”

Falmouth Packet: Matt Halford had worked at the beachside pub set up by his dad all his lifeMatt Halford had worked at the beachside pub set up by his dad all his life (Image: Supplied)

It said Matt had worked at the Watering Hole all of his life, with his brothers Lee and Jason and three sons who have been there all of their life.

This was along with their dad Mick, aka Mad dog, who they described as “a character to say the least” who started the pub as a beach hut in 1978.

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The post said Matt was not just a huge part of the Watering Hole, but he was the Watering Hole, the life and soul of everything that happened and would do anything for anyone.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all of Matt's family & friends as we know a lot of people are going to be hurting. The Watering Hole family will stick together as that's what he would want,” it said.

“We love you mate & can't quite believe what has happened. Perranporth has lost its best man & captain.”