It's definitely come up in the world since my day!
I'd dropped out of catering for a while to do a "proper job" but it was well and truly in my blood by then - and my usual saviour, The Dog & Fox was fully staffed. Thus, I ended up in Camp Road - I kid you not! Even in 1981 it was 30 years behind the time, run by Mr and Mrs Horder: I think his name was Peter but I can't remember hers - she was the epitome of Hyacinth Bucket and the staff were certainly not allowed to be familiar.
Ozzie Osbourne, who lived over the road then, was a regular - and boy did she fawn! The current poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who was a couple of years younger than me, came in a few times while I was working - not so long ago I wrote a poem about her! But that's another story....
Mrs Bouquet (sorry, Horder) was inordinately proud of her "platters" - just like Hyacinth and her "candle-lit suppers" - which were just slightly-large plates of butties or Ploughman's with a bit of tortoise-chewed lettuce. Having said all of that, it was a pub with character and I certainly wish the new French team every success.
