All good things come to an end, as the saying goes...

Way back in November 1993 I was doing management relife work at a pub in Kingsthorpe called the White Horse. I was with Linda with who I helped run the Rifle Butt, but in October we got a message that we were being moved to this new pub. As I remember the regulars were outraged that Scottish and Newcastle could move us so quickly, and questions were asked, angrily, about what was going to happen to our planned bonfire party. Well, when all said and done all Linda and I could do was to pack up all our stuff and move to the White Horse about 3 miles away.
The White Horse was an "L" shaped building on the corner of a busy crossroad towards the town centre. The Sunday before we moved, Derek and I went to take a look at it (I had only met Derek the month before) and I must admit on first sight I was rather unimpressed...it was tiny inside!!!! With a tiny bar and an even smaller clientelle consisting of Irish "old boys". Interestingly enough there was a skittles run as skittles in pubs is quite rare and seems to only belong in Northamptonshire. Anyway 4 days later Linda and I moved in her tiny car, stuffed to the rafters with our belongings! But no sooner had we got through the door, as the outgoing stock was being assesd and taken by a stocktaker, a rather angrey, red faced chap bustled from nowhere, a bit like in Mr Benn, and blurted out to me "Its was you who came snooping on sunday!!!!!!!!!!!" I tried to explain I was not snooping, it was just curiosity, but he wasent listening..."So you send your "lackie" to snoop after me eh?" He had screeched at Linda... "Now listen hear!!" I yelled, but before I could say anything Linda gently pulled me away and whispered "lets just get our stuff eh?"
The next three weeks was like a holiday for us!!!
Now both me and Linda had come from a megga busy pub to a megga quiet one!
There was only two other members of part time staff and we were lucky if the till took £50 at lunchtime! There was absolutly no catering facillities, a massive celler but only two cask conditioned ales were on offer, and a very dissused and very musty smelling function room!...Oh and a pool table! We had no cleaner so me and Linda did the cleaning between us of a morning then Linda would give me shopping money for our lunch and I would have a couple of pints in "the Keep" which was another pub by the shopping centre. In the evenings I would work "early doors" from 5:30 - 8pm and then I had the rest of each night off!!!!!!!!!!!!! Linda, despite being over 20 years older than me, we a bit of a party animal and preffered doing the later evening work which she would often turn into lock-ins for a few of the locals and she certainly dident mind very late nights. Me on the other hand, am not a party animal and most of my evenings were spent upstairs in the living quaters watching TV. On one of the first evenings he came around I had cooked a special meal for us of steak, salad and jacket potatos with sour cream and chives. As he entered the tiny kitchen I noticed an oblong wooden box under his arm..."Whats that?" I had asked "Its a game I want to teach you!" he had said rather sheepishly...and so the evening began after dinner with Derek teaching me how to play Mah Jhong for the first time! and I loved it because I kept beating him!!! LOL!!! On another evening Derek coulden't make it so I trotted off to the off-licence for some booze and spent the rest of the evening getting sloshed while I watched my favorite film "the Fog" on video! I had a light supper of veg baked on puff pasty and slumped into bed at 11 as Linda rang the bell for last orders...Oh I was so very used to going to sleep with the muffled sounds of chat and laughter coming from downstairs! Some how I found it soothing....

Today, Derek and I drove past the White Horse in Kingsthorpe and all the windows were boarded up with steel plates and there was a huge "FOR SALE" Sign outside what had once been my bedroom window!...the same windows I would look out of, to watch excitedly for Dereks red Vauxhaul Belmont to drive past, in November 93'!

Just a tad sad today..................