After 36 years behind the bar of the Alma in Uckfield, Joy H

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Joy Hughes is 18 times your average tenant. At least according to the recent pubco inquiry report, that claims the average tenant only stays in the...

Joy Hughes is 18 times your average tenant. At least according to the recent pubco inquiry report, that claims the average tenant only stays in the trade for two years.

After 36 years of service to the patrons of Uckfield, in East Sussex, the local community would also agree that Hughes has given much more than the average publican.

Many licensees feel that they spend every second of their life in the pub, but Hughes pretty much has.

The Alma has been the family's home throughout Hughes' 65 years, stretching across threegenerations. The family has leased the pub from Harvey's since 1929, but this legacy ended last month when Hughes retired.

Born in 1939, her formative years were spent under the watchful eye of her parents and grandfather, who was the Alma's licensee at the time. Her father, Robert Turner, took over the pub in 1949, then Hughes and her late husband, Sam, took to the helm in 1969.

Despite having grown up in the pub, Hughes admits only becoming fond of it when her name was placed above the door.

"I hated it (when I was younger). Sometimes my parents would leave me waiting at the back door to try to entice me through the front, but I never would. They [the customers] were just old men to me in those days. I just didn't like the idea of walking through a bar full of old men.

"I was encouraged to come in and serve at the bar as a teenager but I wanted nothing to do with it."

How Hughes' mind was made up

The turnaround in her feelings came when her husband, who worked for the Department of Agriculture, learned he was to be transferred to Northumberland ­ a fact neither he nor Hughes was happy about. The news coincided with Hughes' father announcing his plans to retire, so he asked them if they wanted to take on the licence. Sam had also grown up in the trade as his family had run a pub, so it seemed a natural step.

The couple, who had moved out of the pub briefly when they first married, rejoined the fray in 1969 with their twins, aged four. "I have never, ever, regretted it," says Hughes.

It transpires that many of the locals questioned whether Hughes was the right daughter for the job, given her previous indifference, but she took to it like a duck to water ­ and they took to her similarly.

Labour of love for father

One regular was always supportive ­ her father, who was a frequent visitor. "He used to toddle round in the morning and work a few hours and meet his old cronies that he had known for all those years. He eventually moved back in with us when my mother died. He must have been 80 when he gave up serving behind the bar."

Perhaps there is a little sadness that neither of Hughes' twins, a boy and a girl, will be taking over the family heirloom but she understands they have their own lives to lead. Her son was interested but with children aged 10, eight and two, Hughes explains: "They are used to a free life so it wouldn't be fair to impose a pub life on them."

Many firm friendships have been forged with her regulars over the years. "I wouldn't mind betting I keep in touch with a fair few of them. They all say they will visit and keep asking me to set up a bar round the corner. I don't think that will happen."

And she warns that the incoming licensee, Jason Heathfield could have his work cut out. "They don't like the idea of the pub changing hands but give them a couple of months to settle down and they will accept it. Well, I hope so anyway."

Looking back over her 36 years, Hughes says the biggest change she has seen is the clientele. Once made up of purely local people, there is now a mixture of locals and "strangers".

"Nobody used to travel far to go to the pub and it stayed like that for many years," she says. "It has only really been over the last 10 years, when Uckfield has grown, that we started getting strangers coming in."

She smiles as she admits that the pub rarely attracts the town's youth, except when they are seeking a sanctuary from their mates. "The youngsters avoid us unless they are taking a young girl on a date," says Hughes, now breaking into laughter. "They will sit quietly in the corner because they know their mates won't come in here after them."

Like much of her time at the pub, Hughes dealt with her retirement with the minimum of fuss. On 14 February she opened and closed as usual, for the very last time. A party was thrown in her honour, when the pub was decked out in "happy retirement" banners, signalling the start of some welcome "early nights" and "late mornings".

Mixed emotions but it's time to go

Understandably, she has mixed emotions about giving up the life she has known for so long, but the logic behind her life-changing decision is sound. "I feel it is the right time in life to say goodbye because if you leave it too long you get fed up with the work and then it is too late," she says. "I haven't reached that point yet and I could carry on for a couple more years but now is the right time."

Surprisingly, it's "the routine" of pub life that Hughes thinks she'll miss the most. "It's a hard life. It's a committed life. You have to give your whole commitment to the pub. Your family revolves around the pub because that is your business and your home. It is 24/7."

In contrast, she is planning to treat retirement as "one big holiday". She says: "It has always been a case of planning staff cover and everything else. I want to chill out and be spontaneous in what I do. I've never been able to wake up in the morning and say Yes, that's what I want to do today'."

Hughes is moving just 100 yards down the road but she will probably never step foot back in the Alma despite the bucket-load of fond memories. "I don't really like drinking," she explains. "I used to drink occasionally but I don't really enjoy it. It sounds stupid doesn't it? But I just don't enjoy it."

Maybe the only regret she has, and it is a small one, is that she wishes she had kept a record of all the amusing incidents that have taken place in her home over the years. "Every day something happens and every day has good memories," she says.

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