A Life Behind the Bar

This year I celebrate 30 years of becoming a licensee.

In October 1994.I went to Grays Magistrate court to request a Protection Order for The Essex Arms pub on Warley Hill in Brentwood.

I had initially looked at a small pub in Hindley Green near Wigan to be my first pub, but an offer to take over this giant of a pub owned by the famous athlete Mel Batty who also had links with Arsenal FC and ITV. Together we opened up the sports pub in autumn 1994 with razzmatazz from a couple of long distance runners - Mark Denmark and Eamonn Martin who at the time was the London Marathon winner. The pub had a disused function room on the side, a big car park, 10 bedrooms and was a 5 min walk to the mainline Brentwood St which was 15 mins from London Liverpool Street Station.

Paul Parker the Man Utd player had a wine bar nearby, and used to pop in from time to time with his friends and family. Frank Bruno lived nearby, but I never got to see him.

I spent 18months at the pub before moving to The Royal Oak in Bedfont near Heathrow Airport - a wonderful pub with a huge garden/field, commercial kitchen and 3 good sized rooms upstairs. Sadly the pub was knocked down ready for a big hotel to be built, this never happened and the plot is still just a field to this day.

Over the years I have had pubs and restaurants in Essex, Kent, London and now The Isle of Wight. My very favourite was The Sekforde Arms in the back streets of Clerkenwell not far from Old Street, The Angel and Farringdon Stations. It was a one bar pub with a large function room. I still have many friends that I still meet up with, or they come along here to visit on the Island.

I have also worked in many pubs before getting my licence.

The Leigh Arms on Warrington Rd near Northwich was an early one. Ken Wild the Manager of The Dooleys pop group was the owner, I was there around 6 months.

Time Out in Warrington, a cocktail bar owned by Airtours boss David Crossland. Infact word has it, the restaurant was a 21st birthday gift to Davids son Mark.

It was a great American themed Cocktail/Restaurant and venue. It was home to many wonderful guests.

I served many great footballing giants from the North West teams here from bother Merseyside giants and the Manchester ones too, including former Everton and Manchester City manager Howard Kendal. Bob Carolgees minus Spit the Dog was a regular from time to time.

Jacqui Abbott of The Beautiful South fame popped in regular, Martin Offiah was also a regular with his wife and this was the place that I actually met Paul Parker. Just2 months before I headed to the Essex Arms in Brentwood, Paul and his family and friend's popped in, and he left me a whopping £4 tip!! Probably worth in the region of ten to 15quid these days. I was also worked up in Edinburgh for a while, the Barnton Thistle Hotel out on the Queensferry Road. I lived in Mussleburgh at the time.

I spent some time in Oxon, working in Abingdon, Didcot and a small place called Steventon. Further up the road in Bucks, I worked in Bourne End and as far as The Wheatsheaf near Fareham in Hants.

Out of all the pubs I have worked or managed, I have had eight in the top 50 pub names including the top three - The Red Lion, The Royal Oak and The Crown. The Duke of York, The Queens Head I have managed, but never got anywhere near The Kings Head/Arms - maybe there is still time.

Things have changed in all the years since I pulled my first pint in 1986.

It was mostly Ale in those days, Bitter and Mild. Lager? Grunhalle was the local Greenhalls standard lager, and Harp was also on the counter. A 1/6th of a gill was the spirit measure, with the standard price of a shot of whisky coming in around 70p. The beer varied between 60p for mild upto around 75p for the lager. We didn't have beer fridges, but instead a cold shelf. An electric fitted shelf that froze from the bottom up, so if you wanted a choice of Newcastle Brown, Kaltenberg Pils or Becks 9that was the only choice) you got a warm bottle with a frozen iced bottom.

As for Ice Machines, that was also a no go for the pubs I worked in during the 80s. We had those plastic ice cube trays you get in your freezer at home. We just had lots of them. Every morning we emptied them out into the ice bucket, then refilled them and back into the freezer they went. Then the pub would shut for the afternoon as it was the law at the time. By the time we reopened at 5-30pm, we once again emptied the almost frozen ice cubes into the ice bucket and they always lasted, ice wasn't a big thing in drinks as it is today. Cleaning the glasses was a pain, we had electric spinning glass brushes in the sink, we just dipped the glass over and used them again straight away, it was not t ill 1991 till I saw a real glass wash machine. But saying that, most customers didn't want a fresh glass, they wanted the same dirty sticky glass over and over again which was covered in ash and dirty beer and sticky hand marks. So there you have it, whats changed since I first got in the trade?

Well you no longer have to go to court to get your licence, those days at the Brewster Sessions, the Licensing justices would ask if there were any objections, and after a little bit of silence the local Licencing Sergeant would stand up, look directly at you, pause, and then look at the Justice, and say "No Objections from the police" ...huge sligh of relief. You had to be a fit and proper person to hold a justice licence, the police would visit you when you were a new pub manager, before you got your licence. They would want to know a bit about you, feel you out a bit before making up their mind that you were in fact a fit and proper person. A little different these days, you can pick up a course for a few quid at midday, read a book, take the quiz and wham bam, you hold a personal licence without ever pouring a pint by tea time.

What else has changed?, Lager is the top seller in most bars, cider is much more popular, spirits outsell more than they ever have, food in pubs is more popular than restaurants like The Berni Inn (remember them),Smoking is banned in pubs , Dads cant get a shandy for their 10 yr old kids anymore who are sitting at a table eating crisps, Keg beer has gone, including Websters, John Bull and any other fizzy best bitter that used to be on the bar.

A lot has changed, pubs used to have the monopoly on social activities, but now there are just so many great places to spend time with friends and family, pubs really have to adapt and change with the times if they are to survive. Sports are such a huge national pastimes that Sky Sports have spent so much time and money pairing pubs to their product which in turn has cornered so many pubs into a catergory they cannot get out of. Although some pubs ofcourse have been able to see past the Premier League and manage to highlight other national leagues and sports by marketing it in such a way to use all the tools Sky Sports has at its disposal.

The outdoor smoking ban is something we should all fight though, smokers and non-smokers alike. If the Govt thinks we should ban smoking for health reasons, it will be coming for alcohol next. Maybe they should concentrate on stopping all the drugs coming into the country and let the smokers give it all up as they have been doing year on year. Pubs managed in Essex, Middx, London, Kent, Bucks and Hampshire/IOW , If I could give any advice to myself back in 1994 when I picked up my first set of keys, it would be just to go with it, get involved in your local community and make a special place for all not just the few, this is by far the world's best industry. I will be having a celebration for my anniversary on Wednesday September 25th from 7pm with live music and canapes., I hope to see some of our esteemed Wightwash CAMRA committee popping along for a pint with me. Cheers to the next 30 yrs.

"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind." - Humphrey Bogart-

Rob Madigan

The Star Coffee & Ale House

www.Ryde.Cafe