There comes a time in every ones life when there is cause to look back and reflect on how things went overall.I go back to July 1986 when i retired from football officially and since that day to this people have asked me "do i miss it"?.I can tell you categorically that no i did not miss it and i will tell you why i did not miss it,I believe it is a destructive thing to keep looking back on what you did,be proud of what you did by all means,but who likes to listen to someone who goes on about past achievements all the time? Nobody thats who.I say this probably not for the first time but people say the same thing to me now,you will miss the pub game,but i will do the same thing i did with the football,i will close that chapter in my life and move on to whatever life throws up.But as i look back and reflect on my life here at The Witch Inn i think it has been a very happy time for me and my family on the whole,i made mistakes of course i did,but by and large i think i brought the Witch to life and over the years played an important part in a lot of peoples lives.
When i came here first it was a massive operation to first of all clear the site of old buildings,ten foot high grass and hedges in the kids garden,and an unbelievable amount of tv"s,washing machines and assorted rubbish which had been deposited in the garden.My father nearly killed me in that garden a few weeks before we opened.I was pouring petrol from a can onto the 30foot high pile of rubbish,my dad was throwing matches on behind me,luckily for me they blew out before they hit the rubbish or i would not be writing this.I had just finished the petrol when i heard this enormous explosion, i was thrown forward,my dad went flying past me,i got up and ran to the edge of the garden before i looked around to see flames rise a hundred feet in the air,a really stupid thing to do i know but we never thought what might happen.The Witch changed dramatically three times while i have been at the helm,in the beginning i was naieve and influenced by the wrong people,not bad people,they just wanted to maintain the pub the way they liked it.Then came my most inspired and enjoyable time with the kids and the sport.I love those years from 1995 to 2005,there was European Cups,World Cups,Rugby World Cups,Cricket World Cups,my Cricket team ,our tours and matches,all the football teams that represented The Witch,the Rugby team and tour we had,our Pool team that won the treble after years of trying,many many happy memories of great nights and days,very very late nights and early mornings.The music nights,some of which were awesome although i did have some bad ones i must admit.I would say a few million people have been through the doors in that time and in general most people have enjoyed their stay but as Abraham Lincoln once said "you can please some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but you cant please all the people all the time".I have always borne that in mind.
Both of my children have been raised here and i think they turned out fine,i am very proud of both of them,they spent a large part of learning about life under my watcful eye although i did not interfere too much on their fun.I have many many friends after all this time here and i know i wont see you all before i go but i want to say thank you to all those who supported me .
The third and final change came about in 2004,when the Broadway Bars kicked in just about at the time when i was getting fed up dealing with the snotty little shits who did not respect anything,so overnight i quit that game completely.Took out the Jukebox,the Pool table,all machines,everything that kids liked.I wanted to change.It took about nine months to complete the job.I built a kitchen and made a restaurant and turned to food.People thought i was mad but it worked.Everything was well on track till i was struck down with a stroke in August 2007.I have been battling with it since then and with the Recession starting to bite a year or so ago i started to think my time had come.Its just too hard a business,and its very very demanding especially when my health is not brilliant.So when i started to negotiate a price i knew the time was right."Je ne regret rien" is one of my favourite songs,it was sung by Parisien Edith Piaf,but it sort of portrays how i feel about my life here at the Witch.
