THE LAST KNIGHT

THE LAST KNIGHT

The knights arm`s

CHAPTER 62

1981

( Photo 1 ) . A metal badge from the Knights arms.

The year was 1981, the year is very significant mainly because it was the very last year that Ken Evans was the landlord of the Knights arms in the coastal town of Porthcawl.

Ken was not giving up being a landlord, he was literary moving just around the corner to a pub on the sea front promenade called the Pier Hotel, up until 1906 the pub was called the Ship Aground.

It was an end of an era, the Knights arms was famous for being a biker’s, come surfers pub, in fact all were welcome, there was no dress code, and most times everyone got on with each other, not including visiting rugby teams from the valleys, but that is another story.

Any nonsense like customers arguing or fighting was soon sorted and put to bed.

There were a number of rules that Ken enforced, and at the top of the list was no drugs in the pub, he had two main reasons for this rule, the first reason was that the pub was always of interest to the police, for many reasons, and they made a point of watching the pub using drugs as an excuse to enter the pub, the police once raided the pub with a trumped excuse for a drugs raid, which was a complete failure and a complete waste of everyone’s time, and secondly if your taking drugs, you don’t need alcohol, and let's face it, the pub was there to sell beer.

Ken had no time for drugs, if anyone was caught smoking or using any illegal narcotic substance on the pub’s premises they were soon sorted out, and sent away with possibly a black eye, what people did in their own time and in their house was their business, but not in Ken’s pub.

Ken was respected by all that knew him, he was a big man at lest 6`4” tall and big built, he was following the rest of his family, his brother was even bigger than him.

Ken was the landlord and also a biker, he rode a Chopped Vincent Black Shadow, the Vincent was an odd choice of a bike to convert in to chopper, it was so unusual and different to other choppers, most people chop Triumphs and other Brit bikes and the big Japanese fours, it was certainly a crowd puller. I never seen another one.

This day in 1981 was the very last night that Ken was in charge of the Knights arms, the pub was bouncing, every room in the pub was full wall to wall with people having a last pint in the pub, there must have been hundreds of people there that night.

( Check out the two videos of the last night posted below, you can watch them on YouTube ).

( video 1) . Knights Arms Porthcawl... Final Night 1981 PT 1

( video 2 ) . Knights Arms Porthcawl,Final Night 1981, PT 2

Ken was the cameraman, I remember watching him walking around the pub with the camera in his hand, he was easy to spot as he was a lot taller than everyone else in the room.

I remember thinking at the time, if I would ever see the film he was recording, I thought it very unlikely as there was no internet and nothing like YouTube available for quite few years, none of that electronic voyeurism had been invented yet.

But as the years passed and technology advanced, the film footage of that night was eventually posted on YouTube.

I was there on the night, so was Wobble, Galen and some others of my friends, we were all sitting by a table in the main bar when Ken walked past with his camera, we arrived early enough to claim a table in the bar, we knew it was going to be a busy night, and the pub was going to fill up very quickly, I was wearing a brown check woolen shirt, I was never a follower of fashion and wore clothes I liked and felt comfortable in, well that’s my excuse for dressing like someone who had just slept rough under a bush all night, at the table I had my back to the wall, Joss was sitting next to me on my left, Wobble is on my right side sitting next to Galen, I’m not sure who else was sitting at the table, but they were all friends of mine.

It is only a fleeting few seconds that ken captured us on the camera, but we are all part of the history of that legendary pub.

If you look out for us on the YouTube video, we are in part two of the Knights Arms Porthcawl, Final Night... 1981, PT 2 video at approximately ( 1.57 minuets in to the video ).

( Photo 2 ) . A snapshot from part 2 of the video that Ken had filmed showing myself and my friends sitting at the table in the Knights.

This night was basically the end of the pub as we knew it, when ken left the soul was taken out of the pub, it was never the same ever again after this last night.

We popped down to Porthcawl a couple of times to the pub when it was taken over by a new landlord, but it was never the same, a different type of clientele had moved in, and we did not fit in anymore.

At the beginning of the 1980`s we started to share out time between two pubs, The Plough and Harrow in Monknash and the Knights in Porthcawl, in the Knights we shared the pub with all types of people from all walks of life, ranging from hippies, bikers, surfers and your everyday curious tourist, the Knight’s was always busy during the summer and at holiday times, too busy sometimes.

The Plough was a rural countryside pub and a lot quieter, it was a very very quite pub at times, we had the occasional visitors who where lost in the country lanes, but otherwise, the Ploughs customers were bikers, local farmers and the occasional lighthouse keeper from Nash Point lighthouse just down the coast from the pub, and a selection of livestock wandering around.

The Knights was special, to be honest I have never found another pub that could come anywhere near the kind of atmosphere that the pub had, the Plough had its own character, but as a biker pub the Knights arms was known by many as the place to be in Porthcawl.

How many pubs could have a reunion twenty-five years later in the honour of one certain landlord, I know of no other.

The first reunion was held in 2006 at the Seabank hotel.

I went with my wife Sheryl, and we were swallowed up by the amount of people there, it was a complete ticket sell out, the place was heaving with people just like the old days at the knight's pub itself.

Ken was at the entrance signing his book that he had written about his time at the pub called ( Knights to Remember ).

I had my previously bought copy of the book with me which Ken signed for me, which I was very pleased about, above the entrance to the room that the reunion was held was the old Knights arms pub sign.

The organisers of the reunion/party had booked some of the bands that had played at the Knights back in the day.

The band S.E.X. played a few sets and so did Racing Cars, they played their classic hit “ They shoot horses don’t they “, I remember the lead singer Morty saying over the Mic, that he could not understand why this song was so popular, “ but, you guys are asking me to sing it, so I will sing it for you “.

( Photo 3 ) . A typical day at the Knights Arm`s.

The only people I spotted and recognised from back in the day was John ( pig ) Hopkins, in fact John came on to me as I did not recognise him at first, and the other was Sue Sharland, who was a regular at the pub back in the day.

I did recognise a number of the older regulars from the Knights which were non-bikers, but considering the amount of people that were there, I was surprised I didn’t know more of them, but it is surprising how much people change over the years.

The reunion was so successful that the bar ran out of beer, and another reunion was booked for the coming year.

The following year the reunion was held in a much bigger venue, which was the Grand Pavilion just a few meters down the road on the promenade from the Seabank hotel.

I went to the 2007 reunion and the place was heaving once more, I spotted an old friend Galen in the crowded room, I approached him, and he and I spent a few hours reminiscing about the past, I also spotted Sue Sharland in the crowd room.

I found this reunion totally different to the previous one, the venue was far bigger with many people of a younger age, who could not even have been born at the time at the 1970`s/80`s, the success of the previous year's reunion had drawn a new generation in to the reunion that had nothing to do with the Knights.

The night ended by everyone gathering on the dance floor including Ken and singing Kens favourite song, which happens to be mine also, the speakers were turned up to 11 and blasted out ( FREE BIRD by Lynard Skynard ) which we all joined in to sing.

There were a couple more reunions in the following years, which I declined to attend, after 2007 it had become a money making event and not a celebration of the times at the Knights.

Ken sadly died in 2014, in his honour there was a motorcycle escort from the now closed Knights arms pub to the cemetery on the outskirts of Porthcawl.

( Below is a video on YouTube covering the motorcycle escort ).

copy and paste the title below on to you tube to see the video.

( Video 3 ) . Ken Evans R.I.P - Porthcawl

Like I said at the beginning of this blog, the Knights arms was special, and Ken Evans made it so, when Ken left the magic died in the pub.

But Ken and the Knights were legends, and will be remembered by many people for many years to come.

I have many memories of my time at the Knights, it was the first time I had seen someone use a skate board, in fact a demonstration was set up in the Square outside the pub, the whole pub came outside and we watched a skilled skateboarder demonstrating a series of tricks, which we were all impressed with.

( Photo 4 ) . Ken on his Vincent Black Shadow Chopper.

( Photo 5 ) . Ken at the pub.

( Photo 6 ) . The display of skateboarding tricks we all watched outside the Knights, at the right side of the photo you see an arrow with red text pointing down, that`s me underneath the arrow.

( Photo 7 ) . Ken behind the bar at the Knights.