When I served food to Rod Stewart and other stories from Wargrave pub landlady

THE subject of Wargrave Local History Society’s January meeting was The Bull Hotel at Wargrave, when the present landlady, Jayne Worrall, recounted its history.

The Bull is around 600 years old, having started as a 15th century coaching inn, where travellers could obtain refreshment and the horses could also take a rest.

It subsequently became owned by Brakspear. Jayne explained that Robert Brakspear had started as landlord at the Cross Keys, at Witney in 1769.

Here he brewed his own beer, also selling it to other publicans in the town. Ten years later, he moved to Henley, where in due course he became sole owner of the brewery then in Bell Street, but later in New Street.

He bought The Bull at Wargrave in 1779. The £850 that he paid was a substantial sum in those days.

Jayne then told of some of her own background. She had spent eight years working as an air hostess for BOAC. In those days it was a glamorous job, like being a model. But when the airline changed to become British Airways, it was very different.

She had, however, met Graham, who worked as a company representative for the Courage brewery. He wanted to have a pub to run but at that time she felt ‘no way’!

The first one that Jayne applied to take over was The Fox at Bix. She was not successful but, a short time after, Brakspear telephoned to say that they had The Bull at Wargrave. Her response was “Where is Wargrave?”.

The previous landlord was Richard Wilson, who had a terrible stutter. She took over on January 8, 1980 — a date her brother remembers well, as a window had to be removed to get some of the furniture in.

The main entrance was not the present one, while inside, none of the beams of the building’s timber frame could be seen. The ladies’ toilet was down the garden and, in the winter, a kettle of hot water would be needed to melt the ice there.

One occasion that came to mind from that time was on a Monday night, when she and Graham had been out for the evening.

One of the guests had also been out and came back “somewhat worse for wear”, and wanted to have a drink. This he would have to take up to the bedroom — there were no en-suite facilities in those days.

After a while, he was heard to fall down as he made his way to the toilet but Jayne did not hear him come out again. After about 20 minutes, she went to investigate, looking to see if any feet were visible under the door but none could be seen. The guest had come out of the toilet but then turned the wrong way and ended up on Jayne’s bed!

Graham and Jayne stayed at The Bull for about five years, when Graham became the landlord of The Rising Sun, at Witheridge Hill. It was during their time at The Rising Sun that the landlord of another local pub asked if she provided meals, as he had Rod Stewart standing there.

He was charming and delightful and asked if she would mind if he brought in some caviar to have as a starter and that was agreed.

At the time Jayne and Graham had a cat called Basil, which was then seen sitting on Rod Stewart’s knee being spooned caviar.

The next day, the cat did not want its usual food and went off for three days The actor George Cole was another celebrity who patron.

After her time at the pub, Jayne left the hospitality trade and moved to the world of IT. She went to Select Appointments in Maidenhead and was asked if she would like an office job in Taplow - and was asked if word perfect.

Yes, she could type — that would be no trouble at all. On taking up the post, she was confronted with a computer screen Word Perfect was a word processing program!

She could not bluff her way out of that but, as it happened, she found it easy to use.

Jayne returned to The Bull in 1998. Some work was put in to bring back some of its character and, in the dining room, she had a photograph of her, Graham and Stan Callender, a copy of the Henley Standard, and some money put into a time capsule placed behind the timber beams.

The fire place was tiny but, because of the age of the building, she knew that there must have been a larger one. It took just three hours for Stan to get the old fire place pulled out.

There are some stories that associate ghosts with The Bull. Experts have been more than once, and can sense where the “presence” is. They appear to be friendly — although few customers say they have heard anything.

In 2008, Jayne left Wargrave, as she felt she could not meet the cost of the tenancy. But four years later she returned to The Bull.

She found that the “characters” when first she came to Wargrave were no longer there. One she remembered from her early days was a “very wealthy gentleman” who would pay for his glass of bitter with coins from a tin he carried in a Mother’s Pride (bread) bag.

Visitors seeing this would comment about the “poor old boy”, looking as if he could hardly afford his drink.

At that time, the village High Street was “alive”, with a variety of shops including a post office, Weatherlake’s small supermarket, Tony Shaw the fishmonger and Mrs Gemsa’s electrical and household items shop.

The crossroads near where The Bull stands was a busy place. Before traffic lights were installed there (and for a while after) there was a large mirror fixed to the corner of the building. Despite the lack of traffic controls, there were never any accidents there.

One incident, though, in the Sixties, concerned a mini being carried by a car transporter, when it shot off the back and through The Bull’s bay window.

One of the things that changed during Jayne’s period in Devon was the removal of the neon sign above the bay window, to be replaced by the present gold lettering — she would like to see the neon sign reinstated.

Jayne has made a number of changes to The Bull during her time. These have included opening up the fireplaces — one having an open fire in winter time, with the other being used as a log store and the false wall coverings were removed to expose the ancient timber frame.

In earlier times, the pub bar area had only a patio area and a stable block beyond. This area was converted into an additional dining area, which provides larger tables away from the bar area itself, for family groups.

The stable block now has the ladies’ and gentlemen’s toilets, while the garden area beyond the patio has outdoor seating for use on a summery day.

The Bull is “tied house”. The building belongs to Brakspear while the business there belongs to Jayne. The contract between the two stipulates that drinks should be bought through the owning company, that now also applying to soft drinks.

Being a pub landlady is not a “job” but “a way of life”. On a Sunday, The Bull might serve as many as 100 roast lunches. There are five full-time staff and several part-timers.

Government changes which were said not to affect workers though, did, as businesses could not afford to take on more staff, or give a pay rise.

Jayne ended with an account of an unusual incident a few years ago. Late one night there had been a car accident nearby, resulting in damage to a gas main.

When the police called to ask Jayne if she could provide shelter for the people affected, she said it provided a first — the bar was full of people at 4am, drinking tea!

For more information about the society, visit www.wargravehistory.org.uk

Peter Delaney