Great Northern Hotel, Surfleet

My memories of this Bateman Brewery owned hotel are from over 50 years ago as I lived there as a small child.

Now called the Riverside the hotel when my parents ran it was a lively place to be, not just for the villagers of Surfleet but many travellers from all over.

My mum Mary looked after the accommodation and catering side of things, while dad Colin was in charge of the bars and entertainment. We had a large upstairs entertainment room and I remember several musical evenings happening.

Our hotel was regularly full of fishermen who came to fish in the many local rivers, always polite but some of them kept odd hours due to wanting to night fish.

The layout of the hotel was very typical of the time, a men's snug bar, a lounge for couples and a small serving hatch for anyone wanting to purchase snacks and bottles of beer or lemonade etc. to take away.

In the early 1980's my aunt and uncle became the landlord and landlady and I ended up as a student working behind the bar, many of the same local characters were still regulars that I served.

Sarah Fletcher (Hubbert)