I’m Britain’s ‘strictest landlord’ – people say my list of rules are ridiculous – but here’s my message if you whinge
BRITAIN’S ‘strictest’ landlord has banned punters from using their phones and even hanging up their COATS.
Kevin Moran, 82, who runs The Nag’s Head in west London says he doesn’t care if “boneheads” don’t like his rules.
The former squaddie has a simple message for punters “If you don’t like it, don’t come here”.
Drinkers are banned from using phones, draping their coats over their chairs, swearing and even turning up drunk.
If pub goers break the rules, which are written on signs in the boozer and even out the front, they are given a warning and then finally kicked out.
Former Scots Guard Kevin said it bothers him that customers speak to people over the phone who “haven’t bothered to turn up” rather than those they are there with.
He told The Sun: “I was a miner in Durham aged 14 and we used to to to pubs and working men’s clubs where you weren’t interrupted by people on phones.”
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He adds that phones could be an “invasion of privacy” for his customers, especially if pictures are taken.
There are exceptions, with tourists usually allowed to take photos if they ask, but it’s up to Kevin if he lets them.
“I make the rules and I don’t have to give you a reason. It’s my rules and my pub”, he said.
He also insists customers hang their jackets on the pegs provided in “every corner” of the room so that the small pub is kept tidy and so they don’t take up seats unnecessarily.
For Kevin, all the rules come back to one thing: “discipline”
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Learned from his Army days, stationed in Germany and Scandinavia during the Cold War, he finds discipline lacking from many modern punters.
He said: “Coming in drunk I think is ridiculous…discipline is worse today than when I went into the pub game 50 years ago.”
Another reason is carrying on the tradition of the “real English pub” because, having travelled the world, he knows that “you don’t get them anywhere else”.
He loves the fact that The Nag’s Head is “still a pub”, in contrast to its chain-owned competitors.
The publican said: “It’s about independence. I think I’ve done well to achieve that in central London.
“You go to Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and the pubs are all big company owned so you get the same thing…there’s nobody who tells you that you’re a bit ugly or that you’re a handsome sod.”
I make the rules and I don’t have to give you a reason. It’s my rules and my pub
Kevin Moran
“They [city pubs] are all controlled by the big breweries and if you walk into one, you’ve more or less walked into them all.”
His main focus is keeping up a sense of community, centred on a proper local , which he thinks is dying out in big cities.
The pub runs a jazz night once month, with free entry, and the sunken bar features 150 year-old taps and a range of military memorabilia.
Kevin said the pub, which he will have owned for 40 years in November, is “a bit of old school” and insists that “I make the rules”.
However, he insists he is not all rules and regulations – even letting one sozzled punter sleep off his booze session in one of the rooms above the pub.
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TripAdvisor reviews are split over Kevin’s approach.
Some love the independent pub’s old-school feel and unique style, while others find Kevin “rude” and complain about overpriced beer.
To those who think £6 a pint is too much, he is as direct as ever: “It’s expensive in Belgravia. Ask me how much the rent is.”
Kevin acknowledges that his pub is “different” but believes that’s exactly what makes it special in the age of the chain pub.
This even comes down to things like the food.
The Nag’s Head only offer sandwiches, with a variety of fillings and Kevin is baffled by gastropubs.
“I don’t understand it, why does anyone go to a pub for fish and chips?”, he says.
“If you want fish and chips you need to go to a good chip shop, there’s one or two of those in London.”
He says that people don’t like but “if they don’t like that, why be dictated to by big companies?”.
At 82 and with 50 years in the pub game, he’s sure things won’t be changing anytime soon.
He finishes the interview to open the pub up, with an approving laugh at the idea that the soundtrack to his life should be Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’.