When we took over the Cock in 1971 from my father Syd Rowlinson it was the first change of name over the front door since 1912. My great grandfather, John, handed on to his son Orris, then my grandfather John took it in 1921 (he was brother to Orris), and then my father Syd in 1949, until we took over in 1971 on Decimal Day.

Outside the Cock Inn

I don’t know who found it harder, the customers or us. The older people just put a heap of money on the counter and said “Help yourself”, and looking back, I don’t know why we thought it was so difficult.

Over the years “pub life” changed a lot. In our earlier years we had about a dozen O.A.P.s in at dinner times, but ended up with just Wally Fitch. Another thing which kept a lot of people in was the T.V., which at that time was quite a novelty. Sunday dinner times were popular too, and we would often have half a dozen people waiting on the steps or rattling the front door at twelve noon.

We had an enjoyable time really, a lot of laughs, and many funny things happened which I dare not repeat. But after 25 years it was not so easy, and after the last alterations that Greene King did, we had to live upstairs, which to me made it seem as if we were not living at home. I never really came to terms with that. We left the Cock on September 4th, 1996.

We were lucky to rent a house in the village. I don’t think we would have liked to live anywhere else, and we hope we will be here for many years to come.

Dennis and Anne Atherton leaving the Cock Inn in 1996