mick sanders AKA Mick Sparks

I says to a friend of mine who I used to go drinking with Oh, what's it like in there? He goes Oh, you don't want to go in there. It's got a bad reputation. 

And I thought Hmmm...I want to go in there.

I remember walking in the pub, big smile on my face, and all of a sudden I felt a fist across the side of my face and I turned round and there was an Angel wiping the smile off my face. Quite literally. I hadn't done anything. I was just walking through smiling.

It was always full of life. It was always three or four deep at the bar. Even if you went in on a first thing Saturday morning, it was still chokka. Drinking culture’s changed a bit over the years, but yeah. Smoky, dark, smelly, full of characters.

I used to just ride my bike up there, park it down I think it was Cheapside and then go and have a drink. Have too many. And then ride home. My first bike was a Honda 125. Then I had a Yamaha 250, then a good few years off – I had a bit of a sabbatical – then I had a Triumph. I'm still biking now. 

The Tavern was like a big family. If you'd got nothing to do you could pop into the Tavern and you'd always know somebody in there and go and have a game of pool and a drink and have a chat with somebody. They were all really nice people you know.