The first pub I ever entered was the Mermaid Inn. On the site where we had a caravan in Mablethorpe.
It was a Tennant's house when we first got a caravan there. There was a big red illuminated sign on the roof telling me that.
Initially, it had an outdoor patio - roof but no walls - where kids were dumped. Later they wrapped walls around it to make an enclosed room. Not having a bar in it, there was no problem kids inhabiting it. But what parent would want to drink in that barren space? The moon was atmospheric in comparison.
Then they started letting kids into the lounge. Only older, well-behaved ones. Totally against the law, obviously. This was 1969 and 1970. The pub had two rooms of equal dimensions: public bar and lounge bar. The lounge wasn't particularly flash. I'm not sure it even had a carpet.
The beer was Tennant's. From Sheffield and already in the hands of Whitbread. Whose branding it would later adopt. It might still have sold cask when we first got our caravan. By the the time I squeaking inside, it was most likely bright beer. Served through those electric pump glass cylinders. Pretty sure my Dad was drinking Bitter.
Even though I visited our caravan plenty of times after hitting drinking age, I can't recall ever having an alcoholic drink in the Mermaid. Well, they didn't sell cask, did they? And Mablethorpe had a couple of perfectly serviceable Home Ales pubs. With cheap cask. Why would I go anywhere else?
The Mermaid Inn
Seaholme Rd,
Mablethorpe LN12 2NX,
United Kingdom
(No longer open.)
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