Tributes to ‘flamboyant & charismatic’ city publican who has died
THE son of a well known publican and community figure has paid tribute to his “decent and down to earth” dad, David Mcguigan, a familar face in Coventry.
Mr Mcguigan, who was known locally as ‘GG’ and spent years in the city running pubs and club nights, booking some of the biggest music acts, died last month.
His son Kieron Mcguigan described his dad as “a decent sort of fella and down to earth bloke” someone who was always ready to “stick up for the underdog.”
GG was born in Belfast in March 1943 and moved to Coventry in the late 1960s with the intention of tracking down his Belfast sweetheart, Maggie.
Kieron said: “Maggie and GG met in Belfast in the late 1960s, my dad was a bouncer in a nightclub in Belfast where he met my mum.
“Maggie and her family came over to Coventry because of the troubles, they were the first immigrant family to move to Coventry as a result of the troubles. GG followed her over and tracked her down, and got a job on the door of Treetops club in Foleshill Road.”
GG and Maggie got married in Coventry and welcomed their son Chris in 1972, and Kieron in 1975. They settled in Coundon, known locally as ‘county Coundon’ because of its Irish contingent.
GG then went and worked the doors of some of Coventry’s biggest nighclubs, from Mr George’s to the Silver Sword. He then got into running pubs, first taking over the Holbrooks pub (now the Hollybush) and subsequently The Tavern in the Town pub in Leicester. After successfully turning round the notorious city centre pub, they returned to Coventry to run the New Star pub in Tile Hill. It turned out he had a knack for transforming pubs. It was after this that the family then took over the White Swan pub in Hillfields and eventually changed the name to ‘Mcguigans’ in 1988. It was there that GG set up an underground night that caused quite a stir.
Kieron said: “One night a week the pub was used for a lesbian night, and then it was one night, two nights, and he opened it up to become a gay venue.”
He added: “My dad didn’t care about people seeing it as gay venue, it was for everyone. There used to be a bit of homophobic abuse at the time of people leaving the pub, and he used to drive [club goers] back home.”
GG was quite the crooner too, as Kieron explained: “He was famous for singing this song called Save the Last Dance For Me, he’d bring the house down at parties and christenings.”
His love of music meant that he also booked some of the biggest musical acts that came to Coventry,
and supported up and coming Irish talent too.
As life slowed down, GG turned his hand to horse taming, swimming and also horse riding. Kieron explained he also ended up gambling some of the family fortune away, “every bookie shop knew him.”
“His famous last words were ‘I gave all my money to sick animals, but I didn’t know they were sick when I backed them!’”
So how will his larger than life dad be remembered? “He was flamboyant, extremely charismatic, and he was a decent sort of fella. He would help anyone, stick up for the underdog. He was just my dad to me, but he was a lovely decent and down to earth bloke.”
GG Mcguigan died on July 16 2020 - on his wife Maggie’s birthday - after a short illness (not Covid-19 related).
The funeral will take place on August 14 in accordance with Covid-19 regulations.