Kev's 'fun book' about 36 years at award-winning pub
“I’m not looking at doing a 36-year history of my time at the Engineers, but recalling some of the comic or funny incidents that took place”
An award-winning former Bedfordshire publican is planning to write a book about his 36 years behind the bar at one of the area’s best-known boozers.
Kevin Machin, who sold the Engineers Arms at Henlow in September last year, has appealed to former regulars to send him their favourite anecdotes.
And he hopes football legend Paul Gascoigne, who used to sneak away from Henlow Grange spa to have a crafty drink, will write the foreword.
Kevin, 71, said: “I’m not looking at doing a 36-year history of my time at the Engineers, but recalling some of the comic or funny incidents that took place.
“Of course I remember many, but need prompting and a little help from my friends.”
The pub featured in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide for 30 consecutive years, once reached the last four finalists in CAMRA’s Pub of the Year contest, and won more local titles than Kevin can remember.
And Gazza wasn’t the only football star who drank there. Manchester United and Northern Ireland ace George Best would also slip out of Henlow Grange to have a pint there.
He loved the place so much that he was made honorary president of the pub’s football team, and for many years a photo of him with some of the players was displayed on one wall.
Former Everton manager Howard Kendall and Vinny Jones also turned up once with the whole Leeds United team, while actress Julie Goodyear, who played Rovers Return landlady Bet Lynch in Coronation Street, was often spotted at the bar.
Former Derbyshire miner Kevin, who before taking worked over the pub, worked as a sports reporter on the Communist Morning Star newspaper, made headlines when he had a special beer brewed called KGB.
Eyebrows were raised because the beer pump on the bar featured a hammer and sickle. But Kevin innocently explained that KGB only stood for “Kevin’s Grand Beer”.
Then when Prince Charles and Camilla were married, he had another beer commissioned called “Stuff the Royal Wedding”.
Kevin also served a special commemorative beer after hell-raising actor Oliver Reed died in 1999.
Regulars supped 1,600 pints of Ollie’s Ale, with Kevin explaining: “While Oliver may never have actually drunk here, perhaps he should have done.”
When he finally retired, CAMRA’s East Bedfordshire branch threw a special leaving party, presenting him with a certificate and a special miner’s lamp engraved with the pub’s symbol.
Chairman Barry “Baz” Price said then: “Kevin’s done a superb job at this pub. He drinks real ale, he is full of fun and he cares about the community.”
Anybody with anecdotes about the Engineers can contact Kevin at [email protected]