Norman Balon will be ending his tenure at Soho's Coach & Horses next week (22nd May) according to Wikipedia.
This is a shame, but times change. And Norman's retirement won't even come as a releif to any of the legion of Londoners that he has barred from the establishment. I know, because I've been barred twice myself, without ever having a problem getting served within a few days of the fracas in question.
My offence on one of the occasions was to arrive with a head wound, but no permit for it. There was a Poll Tax riot on at the time, so I think he should have made an exception.
But Norman was, it seems, in favour of the Poll Tax (apparently it was fairly kind to dyspeptic pub landlords).
2 comments:
The end of an era indeed. I have never actually been to the pub in question, but I was fortunate enough to see Peter O'Toole in Jeffrey Barnard is Unwell when it was first produced.
I went into the C&H many times in the early 80's when I was working around the corner. Basicaly, I went in to see who this rude man was - and kept going back. The last real pub will soon be revamped as I doubt that Alastair will want the ghost of Norman hanging over him for too long. RIP C&H and thanks for the memories of my adolescence.
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