Last farewell to popular landlord

George Bailey, who died last week aged 94, ran The Bowman pub in Thorne for many years and was one of the men responsible for establishing the national Pubwatch scheme.

The scheme was the brainchild of another Doncaster landlord, Terry Oaks, but Mr Bailey was instrumental through his involvement with the Federation of Licensed Victuallers in getting the plan put on the national agenda.

Mr Bailey was chairman of the Doncaster Branch of the LVA for over 40 years and attended his last meeting in February, before ill-health prevented further attendance.

Rockingham Arms landlord Jim Davies, junior vice-president of the national Federation of Licensed Victuallers and himself a former president of the Doncaster LVA, was a close friend of Mr Bailey.

He said: “George was known in the trade and members of the LVA will be coming from all over the UK to attend his funeral. He always had something to say at meetings and it was always very astute.

“Of course his funeral will be a sad occasion, but we also want it to be a celebration of a life well lived. There will be a great many good stories told at his funeral - he was a very colourful man.”

Mr Bailey’s funeral takes place at 12.15pm on Monday and he will be buried next to his wife at Hatfield Parish Church.

The service and interment will be followed by a get-together at The Rockingham Arms on Bennetthorpe.