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There were four of us on this outing, myself and my girlfriend and a friend of mine with his. We were driving round and decided to stop for one at this very charming looking country pub called The Red Lion at Wensley. As we entered the front entrance the tap room door was on the left and the lounge bar on the right. On the lounge door there was a large sign that said 'Strictly No Smoking'. This might not seem strange now but twenty years ago it was un-heard of. Anyway being as I liked a cigar we opted for the taproom. In we walked and as we entered the room which had about twenty odd people in, the usual hum & buzz of a number of people talking suddenly changed to a deathly silence and we all sensed approximately forty eyeballs staring straight at us. This made us feel slightly uneasy, not knowing quite what the problem was. Were we interrupting a private party? Had we accidentally gone into someone's house? Were my flies undone? No. None of these! I Approached the bar and said "Good Evening" The man behind the bar said nothing and still all eyes were trained on us. " Can I have two pints of bitter and two cokes please" I asked. "No" came the firm reply "Why not" I enquired "If you come in at 7o'clock like everyone else you can have a drink, but not at this time of night, now on your way!" This would have been all very well if it was 10:45 but it wasn't even 9o'clock in the evening yet. As I was about to close the door behind me he said "You can have a glass of milk if you like, but No Beer!"
That comment left us feeling like a bunch of naughty school children even though we were all in our twenties.