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Picture source: Richard & Joan Dickson

The Naval & Military Arms was situated on Elson Road. This pub was known as The Jack In The Bush at time of closure.

Winifred aka Win Sparshott and Nora aka Non Sparshott were both born in the Victoria and Albert pub in Elson Road, Gosport. They had many happy memories of living there and were very sad when the pub closed in the 1960s. Sometime later Win became the landlady of the Naval and Military pub which was a short distance along the road from the Victoria and Albert. In the early seventies and probably since Win took over as licensee, Non served in the public bar while Win served in the lounge bar. During one of the summer holidays when I was at college, I worked as a barmaid in the Naval and Military. Win had been unwell and was advised that she should no longer serve behind the bar. She followed the doctor’s advice but couldn’t stay out of the bar so she sat on a stool in the lounge bar every evening and watched proceedings. In those days rounds of drinks had to be added up in your head and she often added my rounds up and corrected me if I made a mistake. I remember it being a hot summer and the pub was full most evenings. Customers waiting to be served were often three deep at the bar. One of the favourite drinks, for the ladies, was a fruit cup. This consisted of a measure of fruit wine, lemonade, ice and lots of fresh fruit. Fruit cups seemed to take forever to construct and my heart sank when a customer asked for three or four at a time. Thankfully when it was busy there were always two of us serving.Fortunately I didn’t often have to work the morning shift. It was quiet, the time passed slowly and the chores included cleaning the glass display shelves behind the bar which I found particularly tedious.I was always nervous of going into the public bar as there was often a group of men who came in for drink on their way home from work. They had a good rapport with Non but she and they used to tease me and I dreaded having to go into the public bar for anything.If I remember correctly, I was paid 25p an hour. One week I worked for 60 hours and therefore took home the princely sum of £12.50.Despite that I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a barmaid at the Naval and Military and was sorry when my time there came there came to an end.

Joan Dickson (September 2021)

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