The changing face of pubs in the late 1970s didn't impress the retiring licensees of the Red Lion, in Barton. In fact, landlady Betty Elson didn't have a good word to say about the other pubs in the village describing them as "all chrome and carpets".
Betty, along with her husband Harry, were retiring from the Red Lion after 17 years behind the bar and were proud of their "good old-fashioned beer drinkers' pub".
Speaking back in July 1978, Betty said: "I think that with perhaps one exception, we are the only real down-to-earth pub left in the village."
As the couple left the Main Street pub, they moved to a council flat in Short Lane, Barton, but admitted they would miss their regulars.
Harry said: "They are a great crowd and have always rallied round to help whenever illness has prevented one of us from working."
The couple's retirement caused them a rather strange problem – what to do with their extensive collection of bottle openers.
Betty decided she would take the openers with a sentimental value to their new home but would leave the vast majority to the new owners.
Before working at the Red Lion, Harry was a public works contractor and maintained this job for a while after taking over the job at the pub. While Betty had previously been a farm worker having been brought up on a fruit farm.
We're only here for the beer!
Talking about their retirement, Betty said: "We never made enough money to buy ourselves a nice little cottage – we were always too concerned with trying to keep down the price of the beer. This has always been a real beer drinkers' pub.
"A chap came in the other day asking for a Campari (an alcoholic liqueur) or something like that and I told him we didn't go in for fancy stuff.
"Our customers prefer a decent drink of beer and I hope the new chap will not make too many changes to the place. We will pop in for a drink every now and then."
