TOPIC:

At the AGM last Saturday, someone who I don't recall ever seeing in the pub stood up and suggested that there be a shrine to John Bradshaw, a landlord of The Bell about 40 years ago who turned it into a venue for jazz music. A few days later this huge cartoon of Bradshaw appeared, dominating the piece of wall above 'Dead Man's Corner'.

Apart from anything else, Bradshaw had not set foot in the place for 40 years while he was running the Farmhouse on Lansdown, and not everyone had unreservedly good things to say about him. An overbearing and crudely executed cartoon of him high up on the wall of the bar will only attract elderly jazz fans with beer guts who will bore the younger clientele into finding a different pub.

If we allow a shrine to Bradshaw to take a prominent position in The Bell, pretty soon there will be shrines to Donavan, Jamie, Ian Wood and maybe others who we have forgotten about, if not ever actually heard of.

A senior Civil Servant in Northern Ireland has just been awarded £10,000 compensation for having to walk past a portrait of Queen Elizabeth in the corridors of Stormont. Hmmm...

I have fond memories of Brad and his wife, and had thought that it was him that put the pub on the musical map. My impression was that he was well known in jazz circles, which is why jazz musicians coming West to play at the Colston Hall would sometimes drop in to do a turn in the Bell. No-one believes me but I'm sure Earl Hines was at the piano one evening when I called in once in the mid '60s.

So, I personally would not be averse to seeing Brad's picture in the bar. However I have to confess to being a boring and aging jazz fan (which actually is why I bought shares in the Bell) and I don't actually visit the pub these days as often as I should.