[landhusweg]

A funny Story on H&B:
It must have been 1963-64. The Landlord Ted of the Junction Inn (directly across the road from the then public baths), asked a friend and myself if we could look after the pub between 11:00 and 13:00 on Saturday, as his Daughter was getting married at the nearby St. James’s church. As we were regulars and used to working behind bars (Blockade, Black Abbey), we were only too pleased to help out.
Ted had been working on a buffet all morning and by 11:00 it was all finished ready for the wedding party and guests to arrive. He then covered the buffet with spotlessly white table cloths.
At 12:00 workers who had been working (overtime) on Saturday morning started to turn up and were ordering pints of beer. From the bar through to the private rooms one could see the spotlessly clean table clothes. All of a sudden one guy said “Oh no, what has happened to Ted, was it a heart attack?” My friend and I jumped straight on the “band wagon” and said “it was a real shame, but Ted didn’t want to disappoint his regular customers from H&B, therefore asking us to take over”. This of course was telling any lies! Everybody was the saying what a nice guy Ted was and of course how he was respected.
At about 12:45 the family then arrived back at the pub by using the side private entrance. Nobody from the bar could see this happening of course. Ted then needed to use the gent’s toilet and passed quickly across the corridor between the bar and the private living rooms. All of a sudden one of the regulars (who had noticed this) went all white and said “bloody hell I’ve just seen Ted’s ghost”!
At this stage Ted came into the bar, greeted everybody, and asked us if everything was ok and how it went. You can imagine what the workers said to my friend and myself!

Philip Kenyon
Late Belfield Rd