Mural prompts memories of swinging sixties (From Worcester News)

Mural prompts memories of swinging sixties

9:00am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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PICTURES of a mural at the back of a Worcester restaurant have brought back memories of the swinging sixties for many of our readers.

Last week, your Worcester News featured the striking collage of dancing girls which is now on display at the back of Shakeey’s restaurant and takeaway in Angel Street.

Owners Sheikh and Haroon Latif decided to unveil the historic collage, made of cut-up magazines, as part of a major revamp of the restaurant.

It was previously hidden away in a part of the building used for storage and had survived a severe fire in 2006.

Archivists at the Worcestershire history centre in Trinity Street believed the decor might have been from a gaiety bar underneath a pub called the Fountain Inn – but many readers have disagreed.

David Glazzard, aged 69, from Lowesmoor, Worcester, said: “I remember that great big mural being there. It was about 40 odd years ago and it was in the Ewe and Lamb.

“There used to be a long, long passageway up to the back. The mural was one of those things in the 60s.

“Everyone was jumping on the bandwagon.”

Kim Dowling, the landlady of the Cricketers pub in Angel Street, also remembered the bar. She said: “The mural came from when the Theatre Royal was next door to the pub “I think the theatre was pulled down in around 1962. It was put into the back of the Ewe and Lamb. It was called the gaiety bar and it was all done out like a theatre.”

She said the city’s theatrical history was also evident above her pub, which contains the refreshment room from the Theatre Royal.

The room, which still sports some of the original features from the theatre, is now used for functions.

Freda Gower, who ran the Ewe and Lamb in 1979 and who now lives in Drakes Broughton, near Evesham, said she thought the mural was installed by Ansells brewery and believed theatre goers used to go there for interval drinks.

Tony Grubb, 76, of Upton Snodsbury, near Worcester, remembered using the lively bar at the Ewe and Lamb in the 60s.

He said: “We used to have some fun in there.”

Ian Armstrong, of Blanquettes Avenue, Worcester, believes it may once have been called the Oyster bar.