DARWEN'S longest-serving landlord, Stuart Walsh, today calls time on a career that has lasted for more than 22 years.
He hands over the reins at the Sunnyhurst - and walks out with barely a backward glance.
It was in November 1985 that Stuart took over at the popular pub by the lych-gate at the top of the woods.
These days the average pub-life expectancy of a local landlord is barely two years.
"None of them can be making much money," he says.
If there were a licensed trade Oscar for lengthy dedication and gritty determination in the face of mounting problems then Stuart would now be busily writing his acceptance speech.
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It would be quite short. He would thank his daughter Maxine and his loyal customers and that would be about it.
Breweries and successive governments would get two fingers.
"The pub game has gone," says Stuart sadly. "The breweries squeeze every penny they can while the politicians haven't a clue."
The smoking ban? His sideways glance says it all.
"Going out to the pub used to be a social occasion. But imagine now.
"Two couples going out for a drink. One or perhaps two of them smoke, so they disappear outside for a fag.
"And suddenly it isn't a chatty social evening any more. So they think: Why bother?"
Stuart had worked for nearly 25 years at Chapman's Envelopes at Eccleshill and was despatch and warehouse manager before he threw in the towel.
"The whiz-kid bosses moved in and I moved out," he recalled.
He heard that the Sunnyhurst was coming on the market and he and his late wife Barbara went for it.
"I had four interviews, got on a short-list of five, and had to wait two months to learn that we had been successful," he recalled.
"And I had to put up a ten grand bond."
It's different now. Says Stuart: "Forget the bond, forget the interviews.
"Anyone fancying their chances will be practically thrown in, breweries are that desperate.
"Rent? They'll probably give a few months rent-free, especially if the place is a bit of a dump."
I'm cynical but Stuart isn't far behind. "I get on well with Thwaites," he says.
"I don't see anybody. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. I'm not expecting a thank-you letter".
Daughter Maxine has been very supportive over the years and has worked in partnership with Stuart.
They'll both miss the Sunnyhurst, but Maxine will continue to help out new landlord Mick McCarroll and his wife Sandra who are moving up after ten years at the White Lion.
Stuart, 63, told me. "I"ve made a lot of very good friends here over the years.
"I'll miss them all, but it's time to get out. It's sad, really. Not like it was when we were young."
Darwen's longest serving landlord now? Alan Harle at the Punch with 19 years under his ample belt.
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