A POPULAR publican is calling time after decades behind the bar.
Terry Kent, 64, along with his wife Pam, have brought everyone from The Animals and Chas and Dave to Wishbone Ash and Bobby Davro to the region.
But when Mr Kent, currently bar manager at Springhead Golf Club, turns 65 on November 9, he is calling it a day, although he still plans to work the odd shift.
"Every time I've left a place, I've left with a heavy heart," said Mr Kent.
"I am looking forward to time off, but I'll still be helping out.
"All these years in the pub trade, I don't think I've ever had a Saturday night or New Year off, so that will be nice."
Mr Kent's work behind the bar started when he was 15. Living above a pub, he used to collect bottles and work in the cellar.
Even after this, when he worked on Danish trawlers, any time he was back he would do some shifts behind the bar.
"I used to work at the West Park Club when discos were first out, and then when I was 22, we took over the Phoenix Club in Hessle Road, which was knocked down for the Daltry Street flyover," he said.
"I've got loads of memorabilia from those days and diaries from the 1970s.
"We paid £60 for Les Dawson and paid £45 for Paul Daniels in 1979. It was very busy, with 12 staff members behind the bar and six waitresses.
"We were there eight years – until it was pulled down for the flyover."
Mr and Mrs Kent, who met when they were 13, were engaged at 16 and married when they were 17, have also run the Manor Club for eight years.
But it was The Springhead in Anlaby that holds their fondest memories.
Mr Kent said: "It was a deteriorating place, but after a few weeks, it was rock'n'roll. We started to put music on, on a weekend, and then a Monday and Tuesday and then seven nights a week.
"We took £1,800 in the first week in there and within six months we were taking £6,000 a week.
"The key was the live music."
The pair won the Performing Rights Society Best Music Pub in Great Britain in 1998.
Mr Kent said: "We sat and had lunch with Barbara Windsor in London and were awarded £1,000 as well.
"The next year we put in for the award again and were highly commended. We were there eight years on the trot."
Above, Terry and Pam Kent at The Springhead pub with an award for Music Pub of Year in 1998, and, top, preparing to toast the new year in 2003.The couple were at The Springhead for 18 years.
"We made it into a proper music venue, with a 400-seater room and attracted some big musicians," he said.
"It was a great time at The Springhead. We know so many people from our days there and wherever we go in the area people remember us from The Springhead. It was a good laugh and we met some great people, including a lot of artists."
One thing that has changed over the years is the price of a pint.
Mr Kent, who has also worked at the Highway in Willerby Road, Hull, and for the past three years at the golf club, said: "The change in beer prices has been tremendous. I remember when we were putting the prices up to £1 a pint, people said they wouldn't come. They still did.
"I do think nowadays with the breweries it is becoming increasingly hard to make a living."
Mrs Kent said: "Terry worked in clubland when I was younger. I got fed up being on my own at home and joined him – if you can't beat them join them.
"I got more involved in the music side of things.
"Over the years, like me, he has been 100 per cent there for the job and very dedicated.
"We've met the good, bad and ugly, but mainly the good. "We've met many great people over the years and people have never forgotten us.
"Even if we go down Hessle Road now they remember us from the Phoenix days."
The pair will be having a party at the golf club on Saturday, November 8, from 7.30pm.
