Forester Posted September 8, 2006 Share Posted September 8, 2006 Just a bit about myself in" the game".I started working in a pub when i was about 17 doing waiting on at a pub back home in Stockport a place called the Duke of York at Heaviley. There were 2 of us I did the 2 busyest rooms while Stan (a older chap) did the lounge. at the end of the night he said we "shared" our tips well back then i used to get about a fiver+ and Stan around £2to £2-50 tops, Anyway the l/lady said I was not to share as he was a lazy B well he didn't like that he had worked there for years and I'd come in and taken over in his mind. Well he tried to get customers to ignore me the work you name it he tried to get me the sack, well it didn't work (like him) so thats how i found my vocation in life.So after about 8 months when i'd reached 18 John the l/lord started showing me the ropes. In the cellar they had lead/copper pipes with a gauge at the side of the barrel so you could see what was left in it there were no steel barrels then! any way he showed me the works not like it is now and thats how i started. Then there was the pubs that no-one would do.( in and around manchester) I was asked to do them. Every pub this brewery had only paid £125 per week in the 70s so i told them YOU do it for that! Them days the pub lic used to be banked and that cost a lot of money so it was to there gain to get some mug to do them pube. I told the A.M that this is what i want take it or leave it (he always took it) taxie's there&back x4 (used to shut at 3 then) £400 pw = expences total about 700 £s a lot you might think!!! Well when i got to the pubs at 8am to meet the AM they were taking down the 8x4 boards del the beer ect at 11am it opened by then the AM had gone. 3mins past 11 the 1st fight started, 4 women already p***ed folled by there blokes while this was going on one lowlife was trying to rob the pub. I was held at bay by a bl**dy big dog (no panic buttons then)luck for me a old gent had phoned the police and they arrived mob handed by the way the fight involved about 20 of the scumbags by now & it wasn't 12 oclock anyway they shut the pub only for me to open at 7pm after the clean up. So with no staff or cleaners I got to work & guess what about 9-30 a stabbing not too bad but a stabbing nether the less then 11pm thank god. Then 2pm with the pub full of police and some of them still with beer women&men fighting me with a black eyr and busted lip and being threatened with arrest for FIGHTING pppppppppppplease. oh by the way there was a slapper with a baby in one of the corners in a pram. Needless to say after a week it was shut down and sold off for a indian restraunt. Then next week!!!!!I will tell you more if you want, about the shotgun attack/tinker's/horses/gangster's/gangsters from london ect. I had 11 years of that my choice i know but it wasn't all that bad. ps at the end of the tales there will be a bit of a twist to it all!!!!!! Best regards Wayne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Hello Wayne and Maggie. Just back from the Shepton Mallet show which was as good as ever. I had a look at some of the freestanding awnings, but apart from one or two, they all looked a bit pricey. Anyway, i,ll start a new thread on that when I get time. Looking at the news this morning, its all doom and gloom with the anniversary of the Twin Towers leading the way, so get cracking with your story and make sure it as a happy ending, twist and all. Howard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forester Posted September 13, 2006 Author Share Posted September 13, 2006 Round 2: The area manager (am) phoned me and asked me tomeet him a a pub Nr Man Citys ground to open a pub there at 8am the folling day, which i did, again the wage's were £120 (ha ha ) so after he agreed to pay the going rate the 8x4s came off the windows stock arrived and floats put in the tills then staff arrived inc a bar celler man. That told me it's going to be a busy pub! any way we opened up and the punters came in incl 2 of the cleaners so i told them what time i will arrive in the morning to let them in (wouln't stop on the premises as no furniture + not safe ) had a good days take so banked,lockedup & went home. Got there at 8am the next day let the staff in & started my jobs. When i came down at 10 45 ish one of the cleaners was p***ed so i told her that it's not allowed. She said she was sober anyway she got a warning.I asked the other cleaner where she got the drinks from? after a while she relented and told me it's the gin bott behind the bar. That was the start of my troubles she stopped in ALL DAY drinking & saying i have no idea of running a *^*^*^* pub in full voice. Punters came and asked me why i wanted her sacked!!I'm this & that anyway i got the day over went home ready for the next day I arrived early (to mark the gin bott ) The cleaners arrived & started work when i came down at 10 45 again she was P****d so i went to the marked gin bott took it down & low&behold 3/4 gone of a ltr bott. I then whent & told her well the room lit up with builders lingo ect she stormed out Later i phoned the am about stock being stolen & i wantted her sacked as i had signed for the stock.No you cannot do that but can i keep a record of stock! Well you are paying for it so no prob, so we opened the pub. It or she came in drunk with her feller f ing & jeffing that i wanted her out and that she's no thief.After theatning to phone the police they go, then the rumors start, It ended up that i fanced her & she spurered me thats why i want her out! About 10pm the front window went in, I'll let you decide who did it. Next morn it/she turned up for work so i warned her of her behaver the day before and told her it's her last chance, came down to open bar she's drunk again so i looks at the bott 3/4 off the mark again. Told her to go home then told my am Now i know why he wannted to keep her on .Come the w/end City are playing I had arranged for me to have 6 staff on the day boy was we packed out all day, We took on the day what it took all week. At the night time it/she came in with some low life's and it kicked off good style it ended up THE FULL PUB kicking off phon ripped out so couln't get the police,so i whent to my mate's pub up the road for help He's only 5' 9" but a well known wrestler (Tug Wilson if anyone can remember him ) he arrived cracked a few heads & it settled down they didn't know i knew him come the night i had a visit when i went to the toilet by a huge body builder type of a bloke trying to keep me in the lav by asking if i will do after time after about 2mins i clicked and went back to the bar my bar lad was at the other end off the room & no one behind the bar. so i asked him if he'sok he just nodded at the bar i went over NO TILLS some scrote had ripped them out i asked who had seen it happen and not one person had seen it happen incl my staff (which i understand ) I managed to phone the police who came rightaway I got the spare till and put it in and carried onthe police said they could do nothing as they had no info.During the next 2 weeks i had my fair share of trouble being sent in by the local hood (there was a prog on telly not long ago about them, his brother "died" & he took the reins )I also found out who did the robberey one of them lived facing the pub so i informed the police with witness backup. That was my mistake, telling the police. The folling day the police were in when the phone rang the bar lad picked it up & they told him to get the----- out by this time he had called the copper over to listen , they told him that they are comming for me tooled up with shotguns because i had "snitched" whin 1min the armed squad arrived shut the pub and ferryed me to saftey. Needless to say the hood had won and he hads bought the pub thats all they wanted. I then went on to run a pub in Gorton, robbed every time there was a delivery.You might well ask why i do this type of work- Well the truth is the money + i like the job Oh by the way there was a well known acter from corrie thats mother lived nearby was theatened by one of the punters of the pub, He went round to his house in a J.C.B put the front bucket on the wall and rocked the house. He didn't say/do anything after that!. My next tale will have the twist in it.Thanks for taking the time to read. Will post at a later date Cheers to all Wayne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Hurry up then. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted September 13, 2006 Share Posted September 13, 2006 Give the man time Michele. I dont know Waynes typing speed, but mine comes in at around 100 words an hour, all with one finger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forester Posted September 20, 2006 Author Share Posted September 20, 2006 last and final-ish?.In the 70s i tried my hand at being a club steward, one man against 13 commitee members, boy that was a challenge ( I love challengers )All it was doing was bingo the odd "singer" and taking more on aftertime than when open taking about 900 to 1100 per week!. So I put my skills to work brought a 60s style disco in not too loud and it proved a great success. My next move was a C.B. club on a friday with the same DJ. After around 6 weeks the doors had to be shut at 10pm FULL. Take went to 4500+ pw. There was a girl called Maggie who worked there behind the bar and did the kitchen, little was i to know? The club folded due to bad management ect and a new comm came in, this is where i started to worry they where the local wa*kers robbed it blind stole my bond and 1 months wages then disbanded so there was no one to answer to. After that I decided to have a rest from "the game " for a year or 2 I left a wiser man. But I still kept being asked to do private relief for my friends pubs which i did for around 10 years. In 1989/90 I decided to do it proper as i was with a lovely lady now, called MAGGIE, with the best company at the time, Whitebread.As I had worked in the game they fast tracked us onto the relief team where we did brewers fare pubs, community pubs & cask ale houses (even today they are many pubs that cannot handle cask ale as it should be sold ) We traveled the N/West doing pub relief then a cask ale pub came up in Eccles to do relief, The lad who was to do it came to us and said there are too many beers for him would i swop pubs as we were going in on the same days we arranged with the HR dept to swop & did. He whent into the one we should have done & we whent into his (by the way he got robbed and beat up He had a bad attitude ) We met the l/lady it was a bike's type pub but sold food, beer was terrible first job do the lines ( i drink lager ) If we new then what we had taken on only for 3 weeks I would have not done the relief. Them days we paid staff cash but through the books signed for, come the w/end I put on viewdater the hours and that did the work for us tax ect and gave us a printout of the wages for which they signed for, Well they had "ghosted" wages for the week of about £200 one girl said she is only here to help us for the 3 weeks in the kitchen but on her wage slip she had signed for wages for 2 years. She hit the roof with us, we said we haven't done it and are nothing to do with it!. So she phoned the brewery up. Everyman & his dog came down shut the pub & went through the "books" with a fine tooth combe at the end of the day she had taken £1000s the A.M told us to sit it out till they came back which we did. Come the day they arrived back the A.M + stocktakers were there in the front room waiting for her. My darling Maggie was a bag of nerves shaking I told her to go home and I will see her later, but bless her she said no we started as a couple and that's that. We sat in the back away from it all at the AMs instructions the bell rang the Am opened the door we couln't see or hear any thing. After about 3/4 hour she came through crying and said to me "HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME" I replyed no you have done it to yourself!. It then became a what we call a lockin. she & him upstairs can only use the front stairs to come & go.But this is how thick w/bread are, THE ALARM IS UPSTAIRS and thats 3 floors up so every night when we finished I had to go upstairs to put the alarm on & off 25sec delay boy was i knacked. We had to go home to Stockport when we had finnished every day a & come back for 7~30am every day. Again another b***ock droped by the AM THEY HAD A SPARE KEY TO THE ALARM & turned it off when we went then opened the pub to there friends. I told the AM about all this & he said not to worry we are sending them a soliciters letter to get out for the w/end or be evicted which thank god that happened.When they went we went upstair with the AM to look at what they left all i can say is ****ing hell. The AM got the builders/carpets/cleaners in to clean it all up for us which they did and we moved in appled for the pub & got it. We decided to move the huge fridges and clean the kitchen up low & behold we found dead mice/dropping everwhere so again the cleaners came in!.During this time the ex l/lady had told people that we had got her the sack and thats when all the trouble started :windows through seats ripped crapping all over but I'd been here before so I though start barring & standing up to them which we did all of a sudden the rest of the customers started sticking up for us & with the help of the police we got it sorted. At it's peak we had 25 cask ales on and did a bomb with the food during the day at the night time we had the "youngsters" 18+ .Mostly students they were looking for a nice pub to adopt found ours loved the casked beers and the friendly surounds and stopped there till we left in 2004 the name of the pubTHE DUKE OF YORK The name of the pub I 1st started in way back in 1966.My I thank you all for taking the time to read it I must admit I enjoyed writting it BUT I have left a lot out like the time 3 girls about 20ish wanted to well thats another story!!!!Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertractorman Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Wayne, Fascinating stories and I can believe every one having also spent time on the game. Spent some time with my other half doing " Relief Management " lovely title but in other words nobody would take the pub or the last Manager had left the country with the takings. Our roughest Pub was at West Drayton, no good trying to stop drugs as the local constabulary were quite happy to have them there as they "knew where they were". The Pool table had blood marks as it was used regularly to have battles over, the fireplace used to be continually kicked at to loosen bricks to be used against other people or bar staff. Toilets bunged up to create a flood, so that bottles could be nicked from behind the bar while staff tried to bale out the toilets. One cheeky git complained one night the sound had gone off on the telly ( wall mounted high up and bolted with double nuts ), went round of course there was no sound the 28" telly had gone. Large floor mounted cigarette machine in the room, another wise guy told me he had just lost his money in it, went round yes he had lost his money as the machine had been stolen and taken out of the pub must have been loaded in a van and driven off while we were busy. Later we took a village pub in Shropshire, what a quiet life but lovely characters. We had one gent John who was a bit eccentric, and used to get groups of people around him about 1am ( Village pubs only close when the last drinker finishes) and hold a seance. One night he was telling them how in the same room in the 1600's there was an old lady who died and ever since she had come back to visit in the dead of night, and he was therefore going to contact her. All seated around the table were wondering what was going to happen, and my wife said she heard three taps followed by another three. Those seated quickly came to the Bar for a Brandy to steady nerves. Little did they know but the cellar was dircetly below where they were seated, and it is great what you can do with a broom handle over a few weeks to increase Spirit sales. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forester Posted September 20, 2006 Author Share Posted September 20, 2006 Hi David.We had one pub that the wide boys used to take food orders off the staff and the rest of the customers then go and knock it all off and give them out to them at 1/2 price & you are talking 5or6 trollys loaded up to the top all from the back of asda. As you know you name it they can get it!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Great stuff Wayne (and David), lets have more. You mentioned something about three girls I think. Not that i,m interested of course, but I thought you might like to write about it. No rush, later on this evening will do. Howard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Howard, get back in that shed ! better still stay where your wife can see you (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Michele Wife might be happy that Howard goes to his shed and isn't under her feet!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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