RIP Mike and condolences to friends and family. Eltham's a bit out of my way and remember thinking on the Upbeats walk that I hadn't been to the Long Pond in a while as we passed it. He did a cracking job with that pub and the fact there are now so many more trying to do something similar is a tribute to trailblazers like him.
Oh what shocking news. Like many, I was on the end of Chirpy wind ups from time to time. Rest in peace, fellow Addick. Thoughts with family and friends.
Mike's opening of The Long Pond led directly to the opening of The River Ale House. Whenever visiting people ask me how our pub came about, I always talk about spotting a piece in the News Shopper (?), about this man who had left his job in the City, to open a micropub in what had previously been a plumbing shop in Eltham. And how I was taken by the feel of the place when I first went to have a beer there. Not a pub, not a cafe, but something different and new. And with decent beer!
Mike was an invaluable source of help through the seemingly never-ending maze of officialdom and bureaucracy that was involved in the process of opening a micropub back then, having only recently experienced it all himself. Greenwich Council didn't make it easy. I'm forever grateful.
One morning, before we had started to do any work on our premises, Mike called me and said that there were some guys looking to make a documentary about micropubs, and they were trying to find someone at the beginning of the process of setting one up. That led to us being in The New Local film and a trip to The Long Pond one afternoon in the summer of 2017.
The idea was that Mike stood behind the bar, as I walked in off the street, and they would film Mike asking me how things were progressing with the RAH. Well, we had about 4 or 5 takes of this - 'Oh, Hello Trevor' 'Hi Mike How are you doing?' Shake of hands. ' How is it going with the pub?' etc, etc. We eventually got the nod of approval. Sadly, though, that bit didn't make the cut, after all our valiant efforts. Shame.
Anyway Mike, maybe one day we can visit each others micropub in the sky and have another crack at it!
Mike has been a friend for some 40 years and would have been 60 in September. No age at all. We originally met through cricket and I went on the tours to Somerset and Yorkshire he arranged. Every season, for about 20 years, he also used to bring a team with him made up of players from Blackheath CC (he captained at one time their 2nd XI) to my club, Sidcup. A T20 innings a side followed by "lunch" and then a "timed" second innings apiece. Then drinks into the night followed by a curry. The formula never changed and he wouldn't have wanted it to either.
Mike was also the instigator and driver behind a number of other events. The annual Christmas meal at the Won Kei in Chinatown (purely for the abusive nature of the staff) was one such event where, at his insistence, we would have a "guess the bill" for the dozen or so there, with the nearest one being rewarded with not having to pay. He started a horseracing group called the Beehive Racing Club named after the pub we used to frequent on a Thursday night for years. He would run an annual trip to Newbury (and Cheltenham most years too) with everything from the tickets, to the coach, to the beer on the coach and even Racing Posts for everyone. And then there would be the cassette tape that morphed into a CD and finally Spotify. All singalong tracks for the journey home. We would all be given nicknames too with Mike's being "Captain". Of course.
"Old school" was Mike and a massive traditionalist in every walk of life. He left the City to do what he had wanted to do for years. Run a pub. One that was a throwback to times when there were no juke boxes or fruit machines. The advent of the concept of a micropub afforded him that opportunity. He wouldn't just have loved that the pub was opening this evening. He would have demanded it!
The last time I spoke to Mike was a couple of weeks ago when he phoned me on his way to deliver a card to a mutual friend because he wanted to check the number of the house in question. His last words were "thanks and I'll call you soon so we can have a good catchup." We never had that chat but then last Wednesday he sent me a photo of something he'd been on the waiting list for donkeys years for. MCC Membership. Sitting with members and friends with a drink in hand discussing cricket and everything beyond would have been his idea of heaven. So sad that he never got to do that as a bona fide Member sharing his encyclopaedic knowledge on all things especially sport and music.
It's fair to say that Mike packed in a lot more in his almost 60 years than most. He leaves behind his lovely wife, Nancy and his two sons Nick (who does post on here) and Jack and my love and condolences go out to them. For the rest of our group of friends (rest assured we weren't his only such group as he had that rare ability to bring likeminded people together) his passing effectively marks the end of an era. He was our leader.
Such sad news, why I along with Ketman organised the first CL coach away to Ipswich, Mike and the boys came along. RIP
I was wracking my brains to work out where I'd met him and you've just answered it. What a day that was, proper away game where the football was a distraction to a great day with pals, still laugh when that photo of you and @Ketman heads together like a freshly shorn scrotum in the pub
I liked him. I never went to the Long Pond as its right out of my zone but used to drive past it regularly when working nearby and absolutely admired his balls to commit to the pursuit of happiness in the way he clearly did.
May Mike rest in peace your family have my deepest sympathy
Comments
Eltham's a bit out of my way and remember thinking on the Upbeats walk that I hadn't been to the Long Pond in a while as we passed it. He did a cracking job with that pub and the fact there are now so many more trying to do something similar is a tribute to trailblazers like him.
Mike was an invaluable source of help through the seemingly never-ending maze of officialdom and bureaucracy that was involved in the process of opening a micropub back then, having only recently experienced it all himself. Greenwich Council didn't make it easy. I'm forever grateful.
One morning, before we had started to do any work on our premises, Mike called me and said that there were some guys looking to make a documentary about micropubs, and they were trying to find someone at the beginning of the process of setting one up. That led to us being in The New Local film and a trip to The Long Pond one afternoon in the summer of 2017.
The idea was that Mike stood behind the bar, as I walked in off the street, and they would film Mike asking me how things were progressing with the RAH. Well, we had about 4 or 5 takes of this - 'Oh, Hello Trevor' 'Hi Mike How are you doing?' Shake of hands. ' How is it going with the pub?' etc, etc. We eventually got the nod of approval. Sadly, though, that bit didn't make the cut, after all our valiant efforts. Shame.
Anyway Mike, maybe one day we can visit each others micropub in the sky and have another crack at it!
Condolences to his family.
Sorry for your loss @NomadicAddick
RIP Mike.
I liked him. I never went to the Long Pond as its right out of my zone but used to drive past it regularly when working nearby and absolutely admired his balls to commit to the pursuit of happiness in the way he clearly did.
May Mike rest in peace your family have my deepest sympathy