Shepherd Neame have announced that Gerry Dolan, the landlord of the Westminster Arms retired on 4 September after exactly thirty years running this prominent central London pub. Gerry was born in Cavan in the Republic of Ireland and came to London via Dublin to work in the pub trade. SN only acquired the pub 15 years ago but wisely kept Gerry on as manager. Gerry said, “I purposely timed my retirement to coincide with my 30th anniversary at the pub. It has been an amazing three decades. I’ve served everybody. You name it, they’ve been here: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bob Geldof, Prince Edward and Nigel Farage. I think a lot of the celebrities come in here because we never bother them. They just come in here for a quiet drink.” The Westminster Arms is one of the small group of pubs equipped with parliamentary division bells. We wish Gerry and Marie a long and happy retirement. The pub is pictured on this edition’s cover (with thanks to SN for the photos).
