OFFICE LEAVING PARTY IN BRIGG AT WELL-KNOWN TOWN CENTRE VENUE

 

Leaving 'do' parties being a talking point at present, here's a picture showing one being held in Brigg at a well-known venue.
It took place in early January 1984 to mark the departure of a certain senior reporter from the Lincolnshire & South Humberside Times office at 57 Wrawby Street.
The location of this social gathering is more interesting than the purpose of the event. It was held in the lounge at the back of the Queens Arms pub on Wrawby Street.
Surviving pictures of the lounge are few and far between.
This was a plush, if small, room which had a large mirror at one end (not seen here) that made the place appear bigger than it was (an optical illusion).
Entry was gained from a small passage behind a door off Wrawby Street. This was one of Brigg's smallest pubs in 1984.
The lounge, which had a small serving hatch for drinks orders, was used for selection and committee meetings by Brigg Men's Hockey Club over many years, and by other sporting and social organisations based in the town.
It was always busy on Thursday afternoons when people from Brigg and surrounding villages called in after doing their market day shopping and took advantage of special licensing laws which permitted local pubs to keep serving until 4pm, rather than taking an afternoon break.
Some Brigg shop staff who started work very early in the morning and therefore left early in the afternoon also used to pop in for liquid refreshment.
Jean Cunningham was the landlady in 1984; a few years afterwards, the Queens was acquired by Bob and Sue Nicholson, following their spell at the White Hart, on Bridge Street.
Subsequently, the internal layout was changed to open plan and the three ground floor rooms became one.
Later, the Nicholsons established a micro-brewery producing ales for sale in this 'free house' to supplement the range of beers already being offered, then turned it into the Fish Inn licensed restaurant, serving Grimsby's finest cod and haddock ('monster' portions!).
The departing senior reporter (front, second right) who played hockey, cricket, football and darts for local teams in 1984, was about to join the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph's sports desk, having been signed (for an undisclosed fee) by Telegraph editor Peter Moore.
Looking back, it might well have been a free transfer!
We worked in the sports section alongside Bob Steels, then a keen footballer with Brigg Royales FC, playing Sunday morning home games at our Recreation Ground.
Brigg sportsmen Graeme Taylor (fourth left) and Gary Smith (sixth left) are also in the picture, which features our Times colleagues and friends.