Nigel Gray
Senior Member
Its my sad duty to report the end of an era for anglers who have fished the Royalty, Throop and Christchurch Harbour and enjoyed the hospitality of the Royalty Inn on Bargates.
Don finally gave up the fight with those ****'* at Punch and the pub closed tonight with no known future.
We all know the pub had been struggling for a while and, when the choice of beer became limited, people stopped drinking there, me included. Some stayed loyal and occasionally there were enough anglers in the public bar to remind us that fishing was the subject of literally thousands of barbel fishing tales that have been told within the walls of this famous old boozer.
We raised a glass tonight to all those thousands of anglers who, over the years, have made the pilgrimage to Christchurch in the hope of catching a barbel and spent the evening telling one and all of their success or failure in the Royalty Inn (or for those of my age, the Red Lion)
Don finally gave up the fight with those ****'* at Punch and the pub closed tonight with no known future.
We all know the pub had been struggling for a while and, when the choice of beer became limited, people stopped drinking there, me included. Some stayed loyal and occasionally there were enough anglers in the public bar to remind us that fishing was the subject of literally thousands of barbel fishing tales that have been told within the walls of this famous old boozer.
We raised a glass tonight to all those thousands of anglers who, over the years, have made the pilgrimage to Christchurch in the hope of catching a barbel and spent the evening telling one and all of their success or failure in the Royalty Inn (or for those of my age, the Red Lion)