Only fools and scooters

Back in the Noughties I belonged to a scooter club in South London. We used to meet up in the morning at The Morning Star at the top of Peckham High Street. We were an old original Mod club made up of original 60s Mods and Modettes. It was a very well-run club and was not political in any way.

I lived in North London at the time; most of our club were fans of Only Fools and Horses (the TV series was also based in Peckham). We had a meeting with the pub landlord and after that, he applied for a name change from The Morning Star to The Nags Head (which is the current pub name to this day).

And so, The Nags Head, Peckham was born; some of the club members were nicknamed after the TV characters (Boycie, Marlene, etc.). The pub was redecorated in a similar design style as that of the TV programme – brilliant! We even had a yellow three-wheeler as a prop.

In the February of that year, the pub had a grand opening and the TV cast were invited for two evenings. On the 24th/25th of that month, we all met up with our scooters – we were all dressed to impress. The Nags Head was soon full of club members and partners plus three-quarters of the Only Fools and Horses cast – not only them, but also the Daily Mail was in attendance; they were doing a feature on the 1960s Mod era and I took part in a photoshoot.

What with Boycie, Marlene, Trigger, Micky Pearce, Mike Fisher plus others involved in the TV programme, it was a great two evenings. We all mixed as though we'd known each other for years and I had a couple of pints with Trigger and Boycie – what great people! Del Boy and Rodney couldn't make it due to other commitments, which was a shame.

We had great times in those days; it's a shame that things move on, what with Covid, etc. Those time periods will never be repeated in my lifetime and that's a shame. However, life still goes on, but it's not the same; some of the club members have since joined that big scooter club in the sky now, so RIP to them.

The Noughties were great – but not as great as the 60s and 70s.

Keep safe.