A RARELY seen EastEnders legend has posed for picture with a fan 32 years after his soap exit and quitting acting for a whole new career.

Known for his catchphrase “alright treacle” the market stall trader has always been one of EastEnders’ most-loved characters.

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The actor who played the patriarch of the Beale family. left EastEnders back in 1993, and now lives a very different lifestyleCredit: BBC

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He is best known for playing Pete Beale on EastEnders who is Ian Beale’s fatherCredit: BBC

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Peter Dean at the National Film Awards back in 2019 at the Porchester HallCredit: Alamy
But the actor who played the patriarch of the Beale family. left the soap back in 1993, and now lives a very different lifestyle.

In a recent post on social media, Peter Dean who played Pete Beale, posed with a fan as he visited his old haunts for a reunion with some old mates.

The image showed the loveable star capped and bearded while smiling for the cameras.

Peter who is weeks away from his 86th birthday was on the BBC soap right from the beginning back in 1985, before he decided to leave for good eight years later.

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To fans, he is best remembered as EastEnders’ cockney market stall trader, and dad to Ian Beale.

But after leaving life on the square, Peter, who grew up in Hoxton in East London, ditched acting for good.

Now a practising Buddhist, after quitting EastEnders, he worked as a security guard, and painter and decorator and became quite the Jack of All Trades.

Peter shot to fame playing criminal Jack Lynn in Law And Order in 1978 as well as starring in television shows such as Minder, Shoestring, Hammer House of Horror and The Real Marigold Hotel.

He got the role of Pete Beale when the late Leslie Grantham, who had also auditioned for the part, was given Den Watts instead.

During his time on the soap, the macho man clashed with his ex-wife Pat, dealt with the uncertain paternity of her sons David and Simon and his marriage to Kathy broke down.

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He departed the soap in 1993 alongside childhood sweetheart Rose but the couple was later killed in an offscreen car accident on the same day as the birth of his grandchildren Lucy and Peter.

But Pete Beale’s demise came about after things reportedly “turned sour” on set.

This came after the actor slammed producers in public, so ultimately his contract was terminated due to “irreconcilable differences”.

Speaking to Loose Women, Peter previously said: “The producer called me in and said, ‘The writers can’t find anything for you to do.’

“So I said, ‘Well get rid of the writers. Life’s simple when it’s logical.’

“But of course it was already set. EastEnders is EastEnders. The real East End has changed.”

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Rarely seen EastEnders legend poses for picture with fan 32 years after soap exit and quitting acting for a whole new career