He might feel obliged to join in ...

The Elephant is terrific. The new room is much bigger and airier, seats 65, and has beautiful acoustics. The Harveys is even better as one of the joint landlords understands its inner nature through having worked at the brewery for four years. The pub is a hundred yards from my house.

We also have an Angel of Death looted from Glyndebourne living on the stairs (photo courtesty of Will Fly) who has adapted well to a diet of ballads even though she came from the 1992 production of The Queen of Spades.

I have a huge emotional attachment to the Lewes Arms, having been drinking there for nearly forty years, but from everyone else's point of view the move is for the better.

Valmai