A RECENT article on this page about Bradford’s Cock and Bottle pub prompted a letter from reader Christine Ward, who recalls an interesting visit to the pub with her husband in the 1960s.

Mrs Ward got in touch after we ran Vincent Finn’s memories of the Cock and Bottle, in the Barkerend area where he grew up.

“Our friends were ‘babysitting’ the pub while the landlord and his wife had the weekend off,” writes Mrs Ward. “It proved to be a very interesting evening. We enjoyed listening to the pianist, Gabriel, who, although blind, was an excellent keyboard player and recognised his songs by ear. He played in the long concert room.

“At closing time we were invited to stay on with a tour of the pub. The beer cellar was immaculately clean. There was a green door, we asked where it led to. The cellar-like room had no electricity and the men used cigarette lighters for us to see inside. It was empty and there was no floor covering, at the opposite side was an arch leading into a short stone-built corridor, down each side were stone seat-like slabs. Could this have been the tunnel Mr Finn mentioned in his memoirs of the pub?”

Mrs Ward continues: “At that time the Cock and Bottle was a meeting place for the RAOB society, locally known as the Buffs. The meeting-room was upstairs, a large room with a stage at the end. My lady friends and I were ready to have a ‘nosy’ round but were ushered out quickly. The RAOB was strictly for men only.

“The pub has changed in many ways over the years, and if walls could talk I’m sure there are many more tales to tell. I vaguely remember there was a murder there many years ago. Perhaps one of your readers may have more information on that.

Recalling the Cock and Bottle has led Mr Finn to reflect on the role that pubs played in the social life of surrounding neighbourhoods.

“In the years before the First World War and into the 1920s the eight or nine-hour workday became common,” he says. “Working people had ‘free’ evening hours and the pub developed into a major social factor. Pubs were abundant in neighbourhoods and many had a core of regular customers. Often long-lasting friendships formed at the “local”. Sometimes people developed a loyalty to a certain brand of beer. Some pubs offered games - dominoes, darts, a snooker table, and sponsored a football team.

“In the 1950s various pubs organised leagues with teams from various areas competing in darts and dominoes games, whist or other card game. Often a bus would be hired to take the team to their match. ‘Games nights’ rotated between home and away fixture, operating in the winter months.”

Adds Mr Finn, now living in America: “I enjoy reading the Remember When column. It brings back happy memories of my growing up in the St Mary’s parish area of Bradford.”