Beer Saves the Day!!

As a youngster,I remember my father telling me stories of his boyhood in West Blackhall Street,in the dockland area of the east end of Greenock,but one story he told sticks in the mind,primarily due to the slightly comic nature of events in pretty non-comic times.Apparently,this area was bombed regularly by the Luftwaffe,and on one particular evening during an incendiary raid,the pub round the corner from my dad's,The Black Cat, was hit and set on fire.All seemed lost until the Area Air Raid Warden,a well known local character who I had the privilege of knowing personally as a small boy,Walter"Pop"Docherty arrived on the scene,and in true Pop style,broke down the pub door and turned on all the beer taps,thus saving not only the pub,but the whole building.It may be worth noting that The Black Cat was Pop's local,went on to become my dad's also,and I've been know to pass an evening there myself.

Nick George

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