Previously unpublished

Cross-Eyed Ramblings 4

Shreeves was to die an unhappy man, because in May 1971, the month before his death, The Rambler played host to its first ever gig! Mister Traffords Tickety Boo, a folk ensemble from nearby Spalding Chulme, 'lifted the roof off the old place'! From then on a history of 'Folk Thursdays' developed, lasting all the way through to the March of 1988, when Ed Edwards and Chip Chapman, two players from local folk nobodies Harpers Wallet, drew the close on almost two decades of folk at The Rambler. The live cassette of the evening, dubbed 'Sleep with one eye open and ride on the far side of your horse', is sadly thought to have been erased. The 90s brought the pub's most turbulent period since the days of Joseph Thistle, with landlord after desperate landlord attempting various ways of pulling in the punters, with the low point being 1995's changing of The Hops Lounge into 'Smelly Paddys' an Irish themed bar. Landlord Mick Taylor, who faced arrest for inciting racial hatred, fled the pub and the village for Belfast and a life of organised crime, culminating in his imprisonment in 2001 for distributing leaflets 'likely to cause offence to travellers, nomads and little people'. 2003 brought the pub its Tri-centennial celebrations and an evening described by one reliable local source as 'like a funeral but with less food, no music and a Master of Ceremonies more suited to bingo or train announcements'. Village Life reported that Landlord Tom Tinniswoods decision to employ two doormen, charge five pounds a head and insist on fancy dress, meant that by the end of the evening 'festivities amounted to a drunken brawl between two Chers in the car park and a Bumble Bee playing darts with Michael Jackson'. Tinniswood still runs The Rambler to this day, claiming the pub to be busier than ever and even boasting the return of Folk Thursdays and the unlikely reformation of Harpers Wallet! Don't take old Tom Tinniswood’s word for it... Come and see for yourself and pop in for a pint.

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