Remembering the Jolly Farmer

Anthony Wright of Drury Tires remembers the Jolly Farmer fondly and the connections that he and his family shared with the people who worked there over many years.

“After a hard day’s work, you’d go there and have a drink, it was my dad’s local and my mum used to work there for several years with Trevor and Linda Wheeler, they were the owners in the early 1980s.

“A lot of connections with my mum working there, in fact, because she worked there, she got us a good deal, and I had my 21st [birthday] there.

“In fact, we hired out the whole pub: we had the public bar, where all my friends were hanging out, and the lounge bar, where all the family was, and we had all the food there.
“Later on in life, when I got married, my wife and I had our reception there after our wedding, so we’ve got a lot of history there.”

Wright said it was hard to call the pub by its new name, Murphy’s Law, when it was renamed circa 2008.

“It had been known as the Jolly Farmer forever. Just out of principle, and I’m not alone, a multitude of us refused to call it Murphy’s Law.

“We just know it as the Jolly, it’s always been the Jolly, it has been around for a long, long time,” said Wright.

The pub will be replaced with fast-food outlets and a service station as redevelopment plans for the busy growth corridor move ahead.

Read more: Redevelopment underway at Drury pub site