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The Retreat – Image by KL Caley
For visually challenged writers, the image shows a beautifully lit retreat with large windows overlooking a little pond and a decking area. Twinkling lights surround the pond.
It had stood there for years, always popular, always full.
Everyone knew The Retreat.
It was a rendezvous for strangers looking to make new friends, a meeting place for secret lovers away from the normal crowds and people they knew.
It was a bus stop for my bus going to school, though coming home, the stop was named after the church on the opposite side of the road.
I have happy memories of The Retreat.
Not as you may think though.
A quiet corner and an old piano, sing songs for the elderly in The Snug, reminiscing of days long gone brought to the forefront of their mind by old melodies from even older musicals.
Joyful voices in celebration over Christmas and New Year, cheers and chants as one year ended and a new one began. They passed the hat, and I came away with over thirty quid.
It’s a supermarket now. They demolished the pub way back in the 80s, digging out the cellars to make an underground car park. I haven’t been back. Those I entertained all those years ago are long departed. Happy days though.
pensitivity101 
This rings true, especially playing the piano.
Back in the early seventies we lived in Devon. Hubby’s parents bran a pub in Exeter. It was the last chance saloon for those who were banned from every other pub in Exeter! Anyhow long story short if its still standing it became a Tesco’s!
True story here Willow. There’s an olde worlde pub called The World’s End which I played at too. Apparently my maternal grandmother signed her name on the ceiling!! I have no idea if it’s still standing, and to be honest, doubt if I could even find it now!
Absolutely excellent, I like the he cut of your grandmother’s gib! 😂💜💜
Love the way this one weaves what must be fiction and reality!
All true.
The Retreat pub was a good ‘Blind Date’ meet, and there were rooms available for over-nighters from out of town.
I played there two or three times and it always ended up as a sing song.
I should add this is not the pub Hubby and I met at all those years ago as The Retreat had already been demolished. Our first meeting was at what used to be called The Halfway and when revamped became the Grasshopper.
happy days, Di! Loved this! 😀
Thanks
Lovely story. Pure fiction? Or fond memories? 🙂
Memories. I played the piano in several pubs and clubs over the years as a visitor, not a regular thing. Because I play the oldies, a lot of the regulars liked to sing along. It was good times.
Oh, this place sounds like a right riot. Not so much a pub but when I was growing up, we were always all squished into someone’s house for the new year, a guitar would emerge from goodness knows where and a singsong would be had by all. We kids absolutely loved it but doesn’t seem to be the done thing anymore. Thank you so much for sharing. Brought back great memories. KL ❤
You are most welcome KL. It was happy memories for me too.
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