CHAPTER 16
Hare Krishna
Late 1970`s
It was the late 70s.
I was in the pub as I would normally be found on a weekend, I was going to say, it was just a normal weekend at the knights Arms in Porthcawl.
But there was never a normal weekend in the pub, it had such a diverse mixture of clientele, no weekend was the same, and nothing could be called normal.
The place was bouncing as usual, the jukebox was red-hot from non-stop playing, it had been banging out tunes even before the pub had opened.
The pub was filled to the brim with leather clad bikers displaying their denim cutoffs over their jackets with their bikes parked up outside the front of the pub, there was also a mixture of surfers, long haired hippy types and older residents of Porthcawl Town.
Everyone was welcome.
Ken Evans the landlord would sort out anyone that started any nonsense very swiftly, dickheads who caused any grief or trouble were dealt with, very quickly indeed, ken was a big man, and everyone had a lot of respect for Ken, nobody fucked with him.
Harmony was the name of the game and ken policed it with great vigor.
The music was blaring out from the jukebox, the strains of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar drowned the room out, the cords of his guitar and the words “ now if 6 turned out to be 9 I don’t mind “ echoed off the hand painted murals that were on the walls of every room in the pub.
Everyone was enjoying themselves, just a typical night at the knights, and then a very unusual thing happened.
A very large bus pulled up into the square outside the pub, it made its way down through the narrow alleyway that leads directly from the seafront promenade, there was no room to spare, the bus completely filled the alleyway space.
It was a very narrow alleyway, there was less than an inch on both sides of the busses mirrors as it squeezed through.
This was such unusual thing to pull into the square, that it drew all the attention of everyone in the area even the people on the seafront stopped to watch the bus very slowly make its way through the tight passageway, a crowed gathered to watching this huge white whale appear.
The bus parked up away from the bikes, right across and opposite the pub, we all waited to see who would emerge.
( Photo 1 ) . The square outside the knights arms Porthcawl.
The bus parked up away from all the bikes that were outside the pub, the bus came to rest directly across and opposite the front of the pub, someone went into the knights on the arrival of the bus and made everyone aware inside something odd was happening outside.
As a general rule bus’s didn’t pull into the square, there was no real room for one, so this was an event to draw some attention too, we could see round faces in the windows of the bus and a lot of movement going on.
We knew something was going to happen, and we waited in anticipation, shortly a number of people came out of the pub to see what all the commotion was all about, they did not have to wait too long.
And then with a whoosh from the bus’s air brakes, the bus door slide open and the next thing an appearance of orange robed bald headed monks came pouring out in a constant stream, and they immediately started to dance and make their own music.
This was totally unexpected.
Hare Krishna Monks were not unknown to everyone, not that they were very common in this part of the world, but a bus full turning up at a biker pub was a first for me, and I would think for everyone else who was there at the time.
They danced and bounced around with what seemed like an endless supply of energy, a couple of the monks were carrying odd looking drums that looked a lot like giant nuts, They banged away on these drums with more tireless energy, not really sticking to any rhythm or beat they were just making noise, which the other monks seemed to feed off.
Many of the monks had short ponytails and held clicky things in their hands which they held up above their heads when they danced.
The monks started to chant, this drew the remaining people out of the pub to watch this impromptu dancing extravaganza.
I describe it in this way because that’s what it seemed like, one minute you were drinking in a pub and chatting to your mates and passing the time like you would normally do, and then suddenly there was a colourful musical performance going on outside, initially it was all very strange, just remember this was the 70s this kind of thing didn’t happen, there were no flash dance mobs back then.
We were all in the square in front of the pub, watching this musical spectacular, everyone was cool with the whole thing, people were getting into the spirit of things and after a little while all the pub goers started to join into the same chant the monks were singing.
Including myself.
Right then, all together now.
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare
Hare Rama
Hare Rama
Rama Rama
Hare Hare
( Photo 2 ) . Typical Hare Krishna monks doing their thing.
The chanting drew most of the last remaining customers out of the pub to watch and to investigate what was going on outside, everyone watched the impromptu dancing spectacular, because that is what it was, no one had seen anything like this before.
All the monks danced around trying to encourage the spectators to join into their style of dancing and chanting.
This dancing and chanting went on for a little while and then the monks started to slow down, they had spent a lot of energy in the first few minutes of their sudden arrival at the pub and after the dancing stopped, they started to mingle with everyone and wander around and through the knights' pub they were very friendly and very chatty, they spoke to everyone, but never forced themselves on anyone who was not interested to talk to them, and they always had a smile on their faces.
Everything and everyone was chilled, the monks added another element to the night.
The orange`d robed people moved through the pub and began to fit into the atmosphere of the pub, everyone was enjoying their company.
The pub was full, every room was filled with people even the long corridor that ran down the middle of the pub was filled with people, I wandered around the pub as we all tended to do, there was too much going on to stay in one place for any length of time, there was nowhere to sit inside, even if you wanted to, the only place you could find outside in the square with the bikes, this was something we all did quite often, sitting outside or leaning against the wall of the pub or on the window sills, listening to the music from inside, because the music was so loud there was no problem hearing it outside the pub, and with a pint in your hand and looking at a long line of bikes surrounded by friends and like-minded people in leather jackets and denim cut-offs it is a magical thing, you get a sense of belonging, that feeling as always stayed with me.
( Photo 3 ) . One of the very interesting hand painted murals in the main bar.
In the back room which is sometimes known as the back bar, there was a large crowd filling the room, you had to squeeze past people just to get to the door, in one corner there was a monk on his own without any other monks nearby, he stood out amongst the regulars because of his orange robes that he was wearing.
He was surrounded by the pub regulars and was not noticeable at first, he was completely encircled by the regular crowd and was difficult to see at first glance, the lighting in the room was more atmospheric than useful, you would not have known he was in there, in the room has you walked into the back bar form the corridor.
He was sitting in a corner, I moved a little closer curious to see what was happening, a number of the crowd were talking to him, I could hear he had a strong English London accent, he was saying a lot of thanks to the crowd around him, he said “ this is great, I’ve missed this so much ”.
When I managed to break through the crowds of bodies, I could see he had a pint of cider in one hand, and a fag in the other, he was puffing on the cig and drinking the cider as if there was no tomorrow, I also noticed one of the guys in the crowd was holding another pint ready for him to drink as soon as he finished with the one he was drinking.
The monk had gone into the back bar and asked someone could he have a sip of their pint, a pint was offered to him and then someone gave him a cig and then another pint followed, a generous lot the knights arms people.
The monk was relativity a new recruit to the Hare Krishna movement.
He said to the crowd that surrounded him that the Hare Krishna order that he had joined give him free food and a roof over his head and it is a million times better than living on the streets of London and best of all that he felt safe with them.
He chained smoked the fags that he was given and had drunk about 5 pints before the other monks were ready to leave.
I could see people were giving him what packets of Cig`s that they had on them, so he had a small supply to take with him, they could only give him what they had on them at the time, he accepted them with many, many thank you`s, this guy appreciated the gifts as he called them and the personnel time he had away from his normal routine that he was used to with the other monks.
( Photo 4 ) . The back bar with Simon and PJ photo bombing the shot, I remember this photo being taken, I was directly behind them when the flash went off and I missed being in the photo once again.
The monks didn’t stop in the pub very long, they were on a whistle-stop tour of Wales, spreading the love and understanding of man on the world as one of the monks told me.
As they were leaving all the monks assembled outside in a group and gave us one more encore of their Hari Krishna chant, the whole pub was outside to see them off.
The monks were very friendly people and everyone there seemed to enjoy their surprise visit.
The monks slowly disappeared into the bus, some of the regulars were eager to go with them.
The monks had made a great impression on them, I could see one of the guys that was well known in the pub at the back of the bus.
A friend of mine Charley Lewis was about to climb onto the boarding step of the bus when Bucket a close friend of Charley’s pulled him back preventing him from climbing onto the bus and going with the monks.
The monks departed with shouts from the gathered crowd of “ your welcome back anytime, see next year “ with lots of waving on both sides, there was a madness of farewells from the bus as they left with the same energy and enthusiasm that they came with.
There was no talk of religion from the monks, unless they were asked directly to explain what they were about, there was a great atmosphere with them being there, the air was charged with the energy that they brought with them, everyone was enjoying themselves, the bus turning up at the pub turned the square into a colourful, singing, and dancing party.
No attempt by the visiting monks to try and indoctrinate anyone into their beliefs, they were just a very chilled bunch of guys who were just enjoying themselves in their own way.
That was the first time and the last time, I saw the monks down at the knights, I found them to be very friendly and happy people.
Like I mentioned earlier, there was a never a quite weekend down the knight’s, there was always something going on.
( photo 5 ) . The outside the knights.
This visit by the hare Krishna monks also has a brief mention in Ken Evans the landlord’s book about the years he spent running the knights arms.
The book is called ” Knight’s TO Remember “.
The book is well worth reading if anyone is interested to find out more of what went on at the knights.
I have a signed copy of the book, ken signed it for me, when I went to the first reunion of the knights at the Seabank Hotel in Porthcawl in 2006.
I also went to the second reunion in the Porthcawl Pavilion just down the road from the Seabank in 2007, there I bumped into Galen one of my biker mates from back in the day, he was also attending the reunion and to be honest he didn't look any different from the last time I had seen him which was a couple of decades ago, at the moment Galen has dropped of the face of the planet no one as seen much of him for years.
2007 was the last time I seen Ken alive, sadly he passed away in 2014, he may have gone, but he as left a lot of great memories behind for a lot of people.
R.I.P. Ken, I am glad, I got to know you.