Private Thomas Nugent celebrates finally returning home from a POW camp in Korea. Edmonton, 1953, by Bela Zola/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Alehouse, boozer, watering hole, gin joint, gargle-factory or just plain pub. Call it what you like, you’ve probably got a thousand memories from the past of one in particular. Mine is the Cove Tavern, or it could’ve been called Cove Inn or just The Cove. The name may not be clear but the memories are vivid. The short walk from home to let my dad know Sunday lunch was ready. Sitting on the green wooden bench outside, a Coke and packet of crisps passed through the window followed by, ‘Don’t tell your mum.’ There were only three flavours of crisps: salt and vinegar (blue packet), cheese and onion (green) and plain (red). Watching the pub football team return after playing down the marsh, the claret and blue stripe colours smudged with mud. The chatter, sawdust on the floor, darts hitting the board and the chill of the toilet. The Cove was our community hub.
The total number of pubs in England and Wales sunk below 40,000 during the first half of 2022, a loss of more than 7,000 since 2012. Many failed to reopen after lockdown forced them shut for long periods or failed to cope when strict measures on how to operate were imposed when they reopened, followed by record inflation and escalating energy bills. Banks, luxury flat owners and estate agents have moved in after the last barrel rolled out.
At the centre of this picture is Private Thomas Nugent of the Gloucester regiment flanked on his right by his wife Violet and left by his mum. He was one of approximately 1,000 British prisoners of war released from Korea. Nugent had docked in Southampton on the RMS Austrias, a Royal Mail Lines ocean liner that was
