Pullingpints for60years hasn’tdriven metodrink
HAS NO PLANS TO QUIT WORKING BEHIND BAR Teetotal barmaid Nelly Kempsell has been a fixture in the pubs of Dumfries since the 50s and would never give up the job she loves because the customers are just like family to her
other people drinking since that’s been my bread and butter for so long.
“What makes me love the job so much is that I love being around people. I’m interested in their stories and I love all the banter – I give as good as I get.
“You have to be a good listener and you have to remember what’s going on in your customers’ lives. You get to share in the good things but you hear about the sad things too.”
Nelly met her late husband Alfie when she got her first job as a barmaid, aged just 18. Then, a pint cost one shilling and a penny.
She said: “I had a job in the office at The Imperial, which was a huge place with three bars, and after a while I was shown how to pull a pint and asked if I wanted weekend work in the bar.
“At the time a pint would cost ‘one and a penny’ and I remember being nervous about asking my mum and dad if I could work there, because they were pretty strict – but they let me.
“There was a dance floor on one of the floors and there was a great atmosphere. Going to work was good fun.” Nelly admits she caught the eye of a young waiter working there. They married three years later.
She said: “Alfie had just come out of the Army. We got married and both went on to work at The White Hart Hotel. Alfie was a painter and decorator during the week but worked in the bar at weekends.
“I would turn down the hotel bedrooms in the morning, then at 11am I’d go down and work in the bar.
“I’d had our children by that point, so would just work school hours.
“I’d often take my son into work with me and he’d play in the back or with the children of the family that owned the hotel.”
Her most famous customer was the late actor James Robertson Justice, who starred in films such as Whisky Galore and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Nelly and Alfie were regularly asked to manage the bar while the owners of the hotel were on holiday.
So in 1975, they bought their own pub, Ye Olde Friars Vaults, despite police warnings that the bar didn’t have the most family-friendly clientele. Nelly, who turns 78 in October, said: “It was quite a rough pub when we took it on.
“My husband knew who to bar and who not to bar, and I think he barred everyone in the first week.
“We had to attract a new crowd, so we set up two men’s darts teams, a ladies’ darts team, two dominoes teams, a pool team and a football team.
“The Friars Vaults used to get a lot of water in when the nearby river flooded – sometimes two or three times a year.
“There were times when the water rose as high as our till. We used to have to take the notes out and hang them in the cellar to dry them off.
“I would work in the bar during the day, while Alfie kept on working as a decorator, then he would come in and take over to let me head off.
“I’d make the dinner in quiet moments in the pub and take it home with me to feed the family. It worked well for us all.” Nelly said she and Alfie were blissfully happy running their own pub for seven years but tragedy struck when her husband died in 1982, aged just 44.
Nelly said: “Alfie had haemophilia and he took very ill after he had teeth removed and ended up needing lots of blood transfusions.
“We never got to the bottom of why he got so ill other than it was to do with his blood but his weight fell from 13st to 5st and sadly he died.
“Now we are hearing lots of information about blood donations at the time coming from prisoners in America, and that the blood may have been bad, which my daughter is looking into. But at the time, all I knew was I had lost him.” Even after Alfie’s death, Nelly never considered giving up her career.
She said: “I was lucky to have my own family around me but I also had all my regulars at the pub – it was like having another family around me. I didn’t want to sit at home feeling sorry for myself, I wanted to keep busy.”
Seven years later, she sold the pub but started to miss her old job. She applied to work as a barmaid at The Globe Inn and now does eight hours a week over two afternoon shifts.
And she says as long as she is healthy, she has no plans to give it up.
Nelly said: “It doesn’t feel like I’ve been working for 60 years, although I have arthritis in my knees and spine. I don’t know of anyone who has been working in the industry longer.”
Susan Young, editor of The Dram and organiser of the Scottish Bar and Pub Awards, hailed Nelly as an inspiration to others.
She said: “I’ve never met anyone who has worked for 60 years behind a bar – so I take my hat off to Nelly.
“The fact she is still working as she looks forward to turning 78 is fantastic. She’s an inspiration to us all.”
Globe Inn landlord Tom Nisbet said: “Everyone who comes into the bar loves Nelly. She is a lovely character and her personality shines through.
“She is very good at her job and can handle any situation exactly as it should be handled.” ● Do you know anyone who has had the same job for 60 years or more? Email jenny.morrison@trinitymirror.com
My husband knew who he needed to bar. He barred all of them in the first week
NELLY