The Laughing Fish

When we first arrived we managed to glean quite a bit of information from the former owner of Boathouse Farm, Ian McKinney, and some gaps were filled in by another local who is sadly no longer with us, Johnny Allitt. Strangely, we know more about the period from 1939 to 1949 than we do about 1950-1973 – largely because the family of the wartime landlord still visit us from time to time.

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1867 – Job Allen
Job Allen was the licensee of the Half Moon, which was the village inn before the coming of the railway (now Lime Tree Villas). He was almost certainly the first landlord of the Station Inn, and is listed as such in the Post Office Directories of Sussex from 1867 & 1874. (Intriguingly, a section from an Ordnance Survey map of 1874 shows this building as being called the Half Moon. We can only think that this was a contemporary error)

 

1882 – John Brooker (from the Post Office Directory 1882)

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1939-1949 – Fred & Helen Pullinger
We know quite a bit about the wartime years because Fred’s family still live in the area and visit occasionally. They have confirmed the story of the Canadian troops (above) and the dates of the tenancy.

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1949-1953 – ?

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1953-1956 – John “Jack” Simmonds
John’s daughter Shirley (now Siggs) came in last year and brought with her some photographs of the outside of the pub and the garden. She met her husband, Ron Siggs, from Halland here. She also tells us that the old Village Hall used to be next door to the pub. We have a newspaper article from 1955 stating that John Simmonds had then been here for two years…

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1956 – Tommy Thompson
Tommy wasn’t here for very long, but seems to have been quite a character. He originated our now famous annual “Beer Race”, which was nicknamed the “Tommy Trot” and is still run every Easter Monday. (It was sometime during the 1950s that the interior of the pub was painted black, and the piano in the bar painted yellow [M.Palfrey])

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1956- ? – Arnold Russell
We now believe that it was Arnold who changed to name of the pub to The Laughing Fish when he arrived. (See above). Ian McKinney told us that he also installed a two-way mirror behind the bar. What is now the Bar Billiards room used to be the family’s living room, and the mirror enabled them to see if someone had come into the bar during quiet periods.

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?1960-1964? – Tom & Mavis Alloway
Tom also had a job, possibly as a gas engineer (Malcolm Palfrey remembers he had a van with “Calor Gas” on the side). Mavis supplemented their income too by being the local Avon lady! (There may have been another landlord in between these two).

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1964-1966 – John & Joan Page
This couple were popular, and also responsible for the building of the house opposite, “Sappers”, so called because John had served in the Royal Engineers before entering the pub trade. Prior to the Laughing Fish they had run a pub in Lewes.

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?1967-1970? – Ron & Rossi Waggett

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?1970-Feb 1973 – Geoff & Sheila Jenner

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Feb 1973 – Jan 1976 – Ron & Mary Gower
We met this couple, now living in Thurso, in 2007 when they visited while in the area. We wish that we had had more time to chat to them about their time here. We do know that it was during this period that the archway linking the public bar and the saloon bar was knocked through. They also introduced the selling of meals.

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Jan 1976 – Mar 1979 – Charles & Jean Allen

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Mar 1979 – Apr 1990 – Barry & Barbara Dimmack
The pub appears to have been in its heyday during Barry and Barb’s long tenancy. We met them when we first arrived in 2001, as they were still then running the Brewer’s Arms, Herstmonceux, having been at the Wellington, Seaford, in between. Structural alterations to the pub were approved in 1984, and we think that that was when the kitchen was moved from its old location (a small room overlooking the garden, now itself disappeared as a separate room) to its current location. That itself was once stables, and then later a function room which used to house a weekly Folk Club.

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Apr 1990 – Oct 1993 – Derek & Val Gilbert
We have in our possession a video of clips from a programme made about Dame Thora Hird during this period, filmed in and around the pub. Several current customers feature prominently! Dame Thora’s daughter, Janette Scott, lived in the village at this time, and the film featured Dame Thora apparently starting the Beer Race. However, what actually happened was that the producers asked Derek & Val to organise a re-run of the race later in the year just for the purposes of the documentary. This, of course, involved getting all the customers back to pretend it was the real race.

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Oct 1993 – Oct 1997 – George & Sheila Thornton
George and Sheila left the licensed trade when they left the Fish. This was the time when the pub trade was beginning to change from its traditional structure (most pubs either freehold or tied to a small, local brewer) to the situation we have today where the majority of pubs are owned by massive corporate property companies such as Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns. This pub was at that time (and had been possibly since its inception) owned by Beard’s of Sussex, a small family owned company which had ceased brewing itself some years before. Most of their pubs therefore sold Harvey’s ales, and it was difficult to tell a Beard’s house and a Harvey’s house apart.

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Oct 1997 – Oct 2000 – Mick Kirby and Jacquie Webber
Mick and Jacquie took on the Beard’s tenancy after having run the Cricketer’s Arms in Burgess Hill. It was while they were here that Greene King purchased the entire group of pubs owned by Beard’s, to give them a foothold in the South-East*. Whilst Greene King at that time promised that tenants used to selling Harvey’s beers could keep them during the remainder of their tenancy, the change from a small to a big landlord was difficult for many of the Beard’s tenants to adapt to, and Mick and Jacquie left the licensed trade.

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Oct 2000 – Feb 2001 – Rob & Carole Sawyer
Rob and Carole had shown an interest in taking on the tenancy, but were asked by Greene King to hold the pub as “tenants-at-will” whilst a decision was made. Unfortunately they had to take the flack when Harvey’s ales were finally removed from the pub.

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Feb 2001 to 2021 – Andy & Linda Brooks
We were somewhat surprised when Greene King offered us this pub, as we had applied for it in August 2000, and then had heard that it had been given to Rob & Carole. In the meantime, Greene King tried to get us interested in another of their tenancies which was becoming available, at the Brewer’s Arms in Vines Cross. We confidently expected that it was there that we were to be sent when we were called to a meeting in January 2001, but we are so pleased that it was the Fish!

March 2021 - Simon & Suzie Barton, Jodie Hall

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*This was the beginning of Greene King’s massive growth in the last ten years or so, which now sees them as the biggest vertically integrated brewer in the country, closely followed by Marstons. (We’re sorry about the management-speak, but “vertically integrated” does actually describe the set up quite well – they still brew beer, still own pubs, and want their own beer sold in their own pubs. A very traditional set-up, but obviously now on a massive scale.) Neither Punch nor Enterprise brew any beer, but still tie their tenants to supply contracts which they negotiate with brewers.