Classic British Flight Sim

On the 2nd March I went down to Bath for a long week-end and drove down via Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire for one very good reason...............It is forty years ago this month (Easter 1967) that I left school and home aged of fifteen and a half to commence work as a trainee Hotel Manager at the Talbot Hotel.

I can still clearly remember that first day, it was on a Saturday afternoon that I arrived with my parents and after unpacking found myself having to get ready for my first shift in the dinning room, my parents came up to my room an hour before starting work and bade me farewell before departing back to Nottingham leaving me alone and feeling somewhat unsure of my surroundings and of what was expected of me.


The Talbot Hotel

This was my first visit back to Stow since the early Seventies, the Talbot is no longer a hotel but a public house which unfortunately was closed due to refurbishment, although the building has not changed, all the rooms apparently have been turned into offices and shops.

A lot of memories came flooding back during my visit. I could clearly remember the regular customers we had who came in either just for a drink or an evening meal.


Entrance to the hotel, the step on the right was the residents lounge and further along on the right was the main reception.


Mr Biggs, a bank manager used to frequently come in for a drink at lunch times and during the evening, his idea of consuming a pint of beer was to open his throat and pour it down in two seconds flat. (He was once timed). It was the same routine with every pint he had. How could he say that was a good pint when he didn’t have the time to taste it?

Another regular was a Mr Jones and his wife, they used to come for a meal on some Saturday nights, he was usually plastered by the time he got to the table and that meant anything could happen!! We had two large statues of the Talbot dogs that sat on plinths in the dinning room between the tables, being a retired vet he used to take great delight in spreading mustard on the bitches’ nipples saying that’ll keep the dog off her much to the amusement of other customers.


The courtyard now full of shops, the dining room and kitchens were to the left, the building at the end was the Annexe to the hotel.


Mr Crow was another dreaded customer, he was of short dumpy appearance with a rounded face, he wore purple rounded rimmed spectacles along with a purple suit and drove a Mercedes car with purple stripes. Mr Crow was known for his enthusiasm to try to pick fault with anything and everyone if the service did not match his expectations. He always sat at his favourite table.......Table six as it was known.........one evening I found myself in the unfortunate position of serving him, he had ordered a Rump Steak for his main course, the starter was consumed without complaint but after being served the steak he summoned me over with the click of his finger and said it was not cooked properly, I duly apologised and returned the steak to Ron the chef…. Now anyone who has worked in a hotel and is aware of those who find nothing but faults with the meals will know what is likely to follow!!………

“And what is wrong with it?â€

Lovely reminiscences. The all-purpose libel writs will be being dusted down already! Perhaps we can see why it's no longer a hotel

Lovely reminiscences. The all-purpose libel writs will be being dusted down already! Perhaps we can see why it's no longer a hotel

In fact the hotel was owned by a well known Brewery (Mitchell & Butlers) if I remember correctly, it was AA & RAC 2 star rated, about six months before I left the hotel the managing director of the brewery retired and the hotel was given to him as a leaving present.

I do not think that the director had much interest in running the hotel, it was more of an investment than anything else and the manager Mr Ellis, who had been there since my arrival left and the hotel just spiralled downwards, a lot of the regular customers went elsewhere and the hotel lost its sparkling character that it once had. (One of the reasons why I left).

Now as you see from the photographs it has been literally decimated and various parts of the building sold off to turn into shops and offices. Obviously quite a profit must have been made from the sale.

Hi Nigel

A great read...elements of a certain fictional Torquay establishment there.

It would make a great article in a magazine with a few more juicier bits, proving how there is nothing funnier than real life ..........after forty years to get over the pain

Garry

Thanks Garry, yes there is plenty more to add though I rather think it may be better written in a magazine as you say.

It wasn't just the hotel that produced memories but also the locals, some who were characters in their own right, especially one female.

Came very close to an encounter with her once when the annual Stow Fair came, they guys that I worked with promised me a free ride on the dodgems providing I took her with me, I declined the offer to avoid becoming a tool for their entertainment as she would have literally eaten me alive, in other words, I could not have driven the car and fought off her advances (for which she was well known for) in public at the same time!! :shock: :redface:

Think I've said enough.

There seems to be few real characters nowadays with PC and all the other restraints of modern life. :sad:

But even though I know of many local characters who are fondly remembered now :think: ...they were hell to live with at the time.

Many of them I could handle easily now with an increased understanding of life and realising now they were harmless..but as a lad I was terrified of some of them.



Garry

trainee Hotel Manager

Nigel

So where did you go next? Or was that enough to make you decide on a different career?

Ian

Hi Ian

After I finished at the Talbot I went down the road to Bourton-on-the-Water and worked at the Manse Hotel for about six months (see link) it was privately owned then and was kindly taken on by the owner as a trainee manager.

http://www.oldmansehotel.com/

It was whilst there I realised that hotel management wasn't for me, by that time I was nearly seventeen and a half and at that age still didn't really know which direction I wanted to go in life (just call me indecisive).

I went back home to Nottingham to my parents but knew that they didn't really want me around on a permanent basis so decided there and then that I would join the RAF and as I enjoyed driving so much, I applied as a driver in the MT Section on a five year contract.

Though looking back to my earlier years, I often wonder what might have been had I continued in hotel management as in some ways I do regret not having stuck it out!!

Garry,

Are you absolutely certain that the Torquay establishment really was fictional?

Myles

It does exist in reality or did in many establishments.

I think they just brought it all together

Many years ago my eldest daughter worked in a restaurant for a while and the stories that came out of that even the wrong sauce on the steak and washing it under the tap and reshaping it then warming it a bit so they thought it was a new one.



The first thing she said when she came home was "Dad don't ever eat there"

Garry