Ralph was the youngest of 5 children and fully admits he was a bit of a handful at times. In his youth, he was choirboy at St Leonard’s and gained a reputation for being quite a joker.
Ralph was 15 when he became resident at the Nags Head when his family moved there in 1940.
Ralph joined the Navy aged 18 and served on the HMS Ledbury. During occasional leave Ralph would return to the Nag's Head and was infamous for playing jokes on the customers. His mother would often make Sunday lunch for up to 10 soldiers of the Gloucester Regiment who were stationed in what are now the local council offices. These soldiers later served in Burma. Follwing his father's death, Ralph was offered the tenancy of the pub. He declined the offer, fearing cirrhosis of the liver would be an inevitable outcome.
The Nag's Head was a very busy pub, especially on ‘Pig Mondays’, as it could stay open all day when the cattle market was taking place. Ralph remembers that if by 8 o ’clock if you didn’t have a seat you would be stood up all night. A lot of the livestock trade was done over a pint or two in the bar, to save paying duties to the auctioneer. Luck money would also pass hands on any transaction. Bent’s beers were served to farmers and railway workers, as well as the locals. There were four beer engines, and at this time, bitter cost 6d a pint, mild 5d, and a whole bottle of whiskey would cost about 7/6.
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The end of the war brought many changes to the brewing industry and providing a variety of beers became key to a pubs success. Metal casks replaced wooden barrels to cope with the arrival of brewery-conditioned beers and lagers
A book of bad debts was kept, for customers who wanted their beer on the ‘tick’.
On Sunday mornings bread, cheese and pickles were provided for customers, as well as a free pint to the regulars.
During the pub’s celebrations on the occasion of the birth of Prince Charles, Ralph dressed up in just a towel and entertained the customers pretending to be the new heir to the throne!
One of Ralph's last memories of the Nag's Head concerns council workers turning up to fill girder holes in Corve Street at the end of the war. They punctuated their work regularly with drinks in the pub. He has a vivid memory of seeing them drunkenly wheeling each other down the street in their work wheelbarrow.
After leaving the Nag's Head Ralph worked for 40 years in Birmingham. He later became a Careers Officer in South Shropshire, and finally Job Centre Manager in Ludlow. |
