REGULARS KEY TO WONKY BAR’S PROUD STANDING

IT’S one o’clock on a Friday afternoon at Pontypridd’s Patriot Bar. Most of the seats are full, there’s chatter all around and Tom Jones is playing on the jukebox. While pubs across Wales struggle to get by, the Patriot is thriving. Perhaps this is because it caters for a generation who would be lost without it.

The Patriot, affectionately known as “The Wonky” to the regulars, locals and pretty much everyone who lives in Pontypridd, celebrated its 10th birthday in the summer.

It’s one of many pubs run by Steve Evans, of the Rhymney Brewery. As I walk in I’m greeted by one of the licensees, Alison Langford, 56, who welcomes me with open arms.

She tells me the cherished name came from one of the locals and has stuck since the start.

“It’s the Export ale,” she said, pointing at it on the bar.

“We’ve got Merv the Swerve (not that one) – he used to come in and he tried the Export. He came in the next day and said ‘Oh, don’t give me that stuff again – I walked in all right and I walked out wonky.’ From that day, and I’m going back 10 years, we’ve been called the Wonky Bar.”

The pub serves Welsh ales on tap and the regulars now check “The Wonky Gazette” before they come in, the Facebook page that keeps customers up to date with what’s going on.

It’s nearly become as cherished as the moose head on the wall that, apparently, is something Mr Evans wanted to put in all the pubs. The rumour is it’s linked to his love of Fawlty Towers.

“It’s a feel good pub,” added Alison. “We have the best jukebox in Ponty. We don’t play modern music really – I normally put the ’60s on for them.

“They love that. They’re always giv

ing me a pound to put in the jukebox.”

Alison says lots of the customers just like coming in for a chat, the company and to have a bit of banter with people who have become their friends. Regulars come in at the same times, some come in every day and sit in the same seats ordering the same drinks.

To many regulars, the Wonky their second home.

“The idea is for it to be like a frontroom pub,” says Alison.

“It’s a converted shop – it used to be a travel agent’s. It’s in the middle of the high street. We open the door, put the music on and you get people who want to come in.”

If doesn’t up at someone turn t heir n o r ma l time, the staff are straight on the phone to find out if they’re OK. There are photographs on the wall of legendary regulars who have since passed is away.

“One woman once come in and said ‘ This is the only pub in Ponty where I feel safe to come in on my own,’” said Alison.

Alun Phelps, who is commonly known as Salty, is one of the Wonky’s original customers and still comes in at the age of 73. He chuckled when he told me the reason he’s called Salty is because he likes a lot of salt on his fish and chips. Not even the barmaids knew – and they’ve been calling him it for years.

“I started coming here when opened,” he said.

“I know all the boys and when I come in I know the staff. They are good staff – they all look after me. I come in at 10am or 11am with the boys. it

“I like having a laugh with the boys – we are always together. I go home then and I put a bit of telly on – I don’t go out in the night then. I don’t drink in the house. I just come up to socialise with the boys.

“I like the company because I live on my own. I lost my partner. I can stay by here to come out of the house because if you stay there all day and night it’s a long day.”

At the Wonky, the bar is open from 10am to midnight every day. Saturday is busiest, but regulars all have their favourite times to call by.

Local boy Colin Davies, 54, has been visiting the pub for seven years.

Alison describes him as the pub’s “inspiration” as he’s been sober for two years after he was told he had to cut back on drinking. “I would drink here then go home and have a flagon,” he said.

“It wouldn’t stop. I would leave here and go home at night and drink. I would drink all the time. I would drink in the