‘If your old fella’s as small as your mind then you’re in trouble.’ And with that the four of us were thrown out of the Green Dragon in Cambridge one spring evening many years ago. My first ever occasion of being chucked out of a pub — and I’m not sure if it was the last or not. Being young I thought it rather glamorous to be shown the door, though looking back it was all very peculiar. The catalyst was one of our lot, pink boiler suit, gay liberation badges, a conflict with Catholicism and a love for James Joyce’s work. The other two were women, one a looker with a drug problem, and the other older and involved with the church. Peculiar times. The landlord was a beef-and-potatoes sort of chap, old school, joshing with his mates at the bar because someone had left a copy of Gay News there. Homophobic. Why that paper, I haven’t got a clue. The gay chap took exception to his attitude and hence the remarks. The rest of us were sitting down and as our pal was thrown out, old school came over to us and told us to leave as well. Was vaguely amused, no loud voices, nothing to frighten the horses. We left and a few months later I ended up living round the corner — I tentatively went in one evening, expecting a broadside but it was a Greene King pub, er I mean nothing was said, don’t even know if it was the same landlord. Haven’t seen the then friends for donkey’s years, don’t even know if they are still alive.
All this returned to me as I mused on the whole ritual of being chucked out of a pub, about landlords being fit for purpose, about binge drinking and stinky drinkers. What would happen now? Would there be consequences? Different times indeed.
Never been thrown out of a pub, though I've been refused entry on the grounds that I was not gay.
ReplyDeleteI have been thrown off a train!
Quite a crowd you used to hang around with!
ReplyDelete'A looker with a drug problem' - I've chased a few of them at uni.
Not sure if I've ever been chucked out of a pub though... There's still time.
You’re still young laddie! :-)
ReplyDeleteI briefly went out with the looker, but she went off with a drug dealer after a couple of weeks, broke my heart (for about an hour).
A mate of mine was thrown out of a chipper in Ennis, County Clare (1992 this was) when, while ordering a sausage in batter, he asked the woman behind the counter if she also bettered her husband. She did look the type, so it was a fair question, I thought. Of course, we were very, very drunk...
ReplyDeleteBarry
ReplyDeletebrilliant, sounds like something out of The Van; a drunken girlfriend nearly got me into a fight with some blokes in a kebab shop in Archway once, we were ordered out but a fight was averted as there were three of them and one of me.
I go past the Green Dragon twice a day on the way to and from work, can't remeber the last time I was inside. I've never been thrown out of it, but I was thrown out of Decon Brodies on the Royal Mile once...
ReplyDeleteI used to live at 238 Chesterton High Street and then Scottie road later on just round the corner, there used to be a big old estate pub opposite 238 which I never went in and I think it’s gone now. I am sure I was chucked out of another pub in Cambridge but can’t remember where (was carried out of the old Ancient Druids but that was common for the clientele).
ReplyDeleteI've never been chucked out but I've certainly come across a few racist/homophobic landlords (including two in Lyme Regis in the same weekend). I didn't need to be thrown out because, instead of confronting them, I slunk away like a coward. Your chum was obviously a bit braver than me.
ReplyDeleteBailey, he certainly was, though I also think he was a bit mad as well. Why do bigots always assume that you want to drink from the same cup of bile as them?
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