Last orders Sad to

I■ bristol.times@ b-nm.co.uk

■ Bristol Times, Bristol Post, 1 Temple Way, Bristol, BS2 0BY

WAS sad to read in the Post that the Golden Bottle pub in Lockleaze has been demolished. It truly used to be a very busy and well-run pub back in the day.

During the mid-to-late 1960s the landlady was Marge. I forget her husband’s name, but everyone regarded Marge as the boss.

The Bottle used to be packed on the weekends then. It was quite busy during the week too.

Our neighbour Mr Hill would walk up to the Bottle every night at around 9pm, have two pints and walk home again.

Sometimes, especially Saturdays, the Dings Rugby players would descend and sing their rugby songs, sometimes with rude actions, it was very funny.

Sometimes on Friday and Saturday nights Mike Scudder ‘The Black Diamond’ played piano in the bar and you could hear everyone joining in with the songs he played from our house in nearby Rowlandson Gardens. Delilah from Tom Jones was a favourite.

The Bottle had a very busy offlicence. They sold all kinds of confectionery and crisps and you often had to queue to be served.

The crisps they sold were Chipmunk crisps which I have not seen in donkey’s years. Interesting flavours – they even had tomato ketchup flavoured crisps which left you with red fingers after eating. They didn’t catch on.

Both my parents were smokers and I was often tasked with buying cigarettes from the off-licence and crisps if we were lucky.

During the summer of 1967 or ‘68 Marge had a brilliant idea and started to sell sixpenny (six old pence, a tanner) drinks to kids from the off-licence.

They were lemonade of course. All kinds of flavours could be had, and they were served in dimpled half pint mugs. Rows of kids sat outside on the pub wall with their mugs of red/green lemonade feeling very grown up indeed.

The pub was a Whitbread house back then. Their Forest Brown ale was very tasty, as was the famous Trophy bitter.

In fact, I prefer these gassy beers to the real ale which became popular in the early 1980s. I used to love a pint of Watney’s Red Barrel.

The Golden Bottle’s bar was very large and had a deep bay window you could sit in. Most convivial.

In later years it gained a pool table at one end to join the compulsory dart board. The lounge was very well kept with deep carpets and heavy wallpaper.

I think it had prints of works of art by the great masters such as Constable and Gainsborough on the walls. A lot of the streets on the Lockleaze estate were named after famous artists.

At the rear of the Bottle was a fullsize skittle alley in a large function room. Many 18th and 21st birthday parties and wedding do’s were held here, and there was a great party in the skittle alley for the Queen’s silver jubilee celebrations in 1977.

The pub manager and family lived above the pub and they even had a Juliette balcony. Very posh.

I remember that the Golden Bottle’s pub original outdoor sign board was very futuristic. A tapered concrete pole led up to a very large abstract painting of a gilt Golden Bottle. It was very well painted and had a curved cover. The sign was lit