Pub Characters

For me, the best boozers are ones that are full of characters and not necessarily for the faint-hearted.

A pub where you can walk in, have a chat with a complete stranger and time flies.  Of course, you also have the riotous evenings where pubs are jam packed and anything goes!

Over the past 500+ pubs there has been plenty of characters and I’ve uncovered a few photos from the Lifeafterfootball archives to recall some of the Midlands’ finest #pubmen.

Reg, who was in The Leopard Inn (Burton) on an afternoon was remarkably chatty, admitted pub life  kept him sane and rightly lambasted me for having a Carling instead of a Guinness.

Bill and Ray were found in The White Swan (Melbourne) and Bill waxed lyrical about old school life in Melbourne and how all teachers were b******s!

The Real Ale Corner (Chesterfield) was top notch and the bloke on the right started up the conversation and the bloke on the left insisted on buying me and my pal a drink each and discussed the (lack of) music scene in Chesterfield amongst other topics!

The Jolly Potters (Castle Donington) was the evening after England had beaten Sweden to reach the World Cup semi final and the singing was magnificent.  I am partial to singing in a boozer, at the right time of course, and this was the right time!

“England are in Russia”

Bodell’s (Swadlincote) was a first for me as I was there for the official opening and met some great pub characters all happy to welcome in a new boozer to Swad.

Trish & Steve x2 were amongst the punters spending an hour on a Thursday afternoon ramping up the atmosphere.

Of course, it’s not all debauchery as I stumbled (not literally) across a literary afternoon in The Creaky Floorboard (Derby) as Andy Smithyman was holding court with his new book.

However, in The Square Peg, (Birmingham) which is always rammed I was there  with a few pals after a Christmas shopping spree and a top bloke, who I’d never met before made the barman fetch me some black bin bags to replace my split plastic bags!

The Lord Clifden in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter (Hockley) saw a group of pals finish off a long day in style playing table tennis against Romania’s version of Desmond Douglas.

One of this group of lads at The Stamford & Warrington (Coalville) proved just how tough the LE67 postcode is by offering to pose without clothes from the waist down when the Beast From The East was at it’s most fierce.

Prior to this I had been involved in a great pub darts conversation about their upcoming fixture against a boozer from Swannington and the characters in this place are everywhere.

Rod’s been a great pub character throughout this blog and here he is in one of his finest poses outside The Unicorn (Newton Solney).  There’s plenty of possible photos but this one sums a Saturday afternoon in the sun perfectly with a Bass snake.

Bill was the CAMRA man hoping to pop out for a half and deliver the Potters Bar mag but ended up in around eight pubs with my pal and I on the Hartshill Mile!

Then of course there is Julian.  He’s still walking the coastline of Britain and appears randomly n this blog and is the most chilled out bloke I know .  Here he is just warming up outside the Little Chester Ale House (Derby).

There are plenty of other pub characters I’ve bumped into over the years but  photos aren’t always possible – or a wise move.  However, I’ll leave you with Martin who is a staunch Carling man and spent the night in  Pint Shop Brum (Birmingham) banging the top of his pint with my pint glass to create some bubbles in his pint of Camden Lager!

Pub life and pub characters – top class!