They say we all have a book in us.

For Bernard Hagon, such stories didn’t emerge in print until he was in his 80s. But boy, what stories they are - of king and queens, A-list stars and comedians, brushes with Russia’s military top brass, and a few close encounters with notorious London gangsters.

They have transformed Bernard, now 88, from East End publican, wine bar owner and latterly a high-class butler, into a prolific author as fascinating stories spill out onto page after page of his tomes.

He is now on his third, self-published, fascinating read. His first book published in 2021, “Written While I can Still Remember,” tells his life story, while a second that came out earlier this year looks at his time at the UK’s oldest Wine Bar, Marsden’s Wine Lodge in Islington, London.

Emotional reunion

'To cut a long story short' is a phrase that he interjects more than once into our conversation at his home not far from the water in Horning.

Bernard does have long and interesting stories, all rich in colour, with characters, drama, a few close shaves, and determination to succeed.

The story behind the books is as remarkable as the contents themselves.

After his first marriage ended, his son was adopted but it was while Bernard was working as a butler and concierge at Sprowston Manor north of Norwich, that his biological son Michael tracked him down after 53 years and came to see him.

“He knew nothing about me, he had never been told, so over a period of time, I told him about my life.

“After many visits, he said ‘please dad, would you write this down to pass onto my family’, so that is how I started writing.”

German nanny

Born in the City of London in 1933, his family ran pubs. During that time, he was looked after by a German nanny, who was a snake dancer in Hamburg.

“She was interned during the war,” he said. “She was very fond of me but I remember she had a big picture of Hitler on the wall in her bedroom.”

When Bernard’s father went to India as a soldier in the Cameron Highlanders, his mother continued to run the British Empire pub in Barking Road, Plaistow.

Bernard was evacuated to Sussex, during which time the pub suffered a direct hit, and his mother injured. When she left hospital, she collected Bernard and they moved to Benfleet in Essex.

Gangster fraternity

After leaving school, he worked in a boatyard on an apprenticeship, then joined the Merchant Navy, making his first trip in 1949 with the Orient Company taking £10 immigrants to Australia.

He did that for 13 years, albeit with a diversion to the Korean War to take ammunition and troops to Pusan when the vessel was requisitioned by the Royal Navy.

When he left the Merchant Navy, he returned to the pub trade, taking a pub in Bishop’s Stortford, before being offered the chance to run a restaurant with connections to London’s gangster fraternity including Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

“My father told me not to touch it, so I turned it down,” he said, accepting instead the tenancy of the Prince of Wales pub in Mount Nessing.

“It was in a terrible state but I drove a lorry during the day to earn money to buy new furniture for the pub and decorated it up. I turned the pub round and started to do good business,” he added.

Blue Peter

He bought an early microwave oven for the kitchen, which attracted a lot of publicity. The local newspaper ran the story under the headline “licensee cooks by atomic energy.”

“There were people coming from Kent all the way to Essex to eat food cooked by a microwave,” he said.

“I am dyslexic, I can’t spell to save my life but I know what one and one makes, I have been a good businessman,” he remarked.

Bernard was always creating things, making items, doing sculptures and using his carpentry skills to make furniture or do up the pubs and bars he ran.

One of the most bizarre was to make a full-size suit of armour out of a scrap Ford Anglia car, which saw him appear on Blue Peter. Footage exists of him walking on to the set of the popular children’s programme, introduced by presenter Peter Purves.

Soviet exploits

During his time at the Prince of Wales, he was treasurer of a local Royal British Legion branch. On announcing he was taking a break from the pub with a trip to Moscow, the branch suggested he took a wreath, a step which led to an extraordinary series of events including a meeting with the Soviet Union’s top military brass and politicians, a visit to the Bolshoi Ballet, and a conversation with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

“I kept thinking something had gone radically wrong as I was just an English publican and treasurer of a small branch of British legion but I was told I was representing the British Armed Forces, the first ever to be represented in the USSR, and was receiving the same salutations as the head of the military. They were also pleased I was working class,” he added.

During the visit, he was shown the Soviet Lunokhod II moon vehicle, which three weeks later was on the lunar surface.

“I asked if I could touch it, and the men in white coats around it said I could,” added Bernard. “That meant my fingerprints made it to the moon!”

Wine Lodge

Separated from his wife and leaving the Prince of Wales after 15 years, he and his companion Jean, who he later married in Norfolk, took over Marsden’s Wine Lodge in Islington in the early 1970s.

“It was the oldest wine bar in England, dating from Queen Anne’s reign,” he said. “It had a flat above and made a go of it, attracting new customers and started to make money.”

They later bought the freehold and soon, well-known and important clients began to frequent the wine bar, which had Victorian style décor.

Judges and barristers from the Highbury Law Courts, the manager of the London Palladium and celebrities such as Michael Crawford, cockney character actor Arthur Mullard and Yootha Joyce of George and Mildred fame were customers.

“We had a cross section of drinkers in the wine bar; the good, the bad and the ugly. They were all characters and I do like characters.”

Move to Norfolk

The decision to settle in Norfolk came with an unexpected – and irresistible – offer from an Algerian customer to buy the premises.

“He had been coming in for about three weeks and then one lunchtime asked me if it was for sale,” recalled Bernard.

“I said ‘yes, for the right price’, so he produced a card from his pocket and wrote a figure on the back. When Jean saw the figure, we could not say no because it was retirement there and then.”

They agreed on the sale, moved to Horning and soon after Bernard and Jean married in North Walsham.

Sprowston Manor

Bernard later took a job with boat builders Landamores, before returning to the hotel sector as a butler and concierge at Sprowston Manor, looking after wealthy guests and celebrities.

“One day, the management said somebody important was coming to stay, but they wouldn’t tell me who until they were due to arrive. It was the King and Queen of Malaysia.”

The red carpet was rolled, there were motorcycle escorts and bodyguards and strict protocols, such as not wearing shoes or making eye contact with the royal couple.

Bernard was on hand to attend them as required and when they left, the king presented him with a jewelled Pierre Renoir watch containing four diamonds.

He also served Charlton Heston, Sir Harry Secombe, David Essex, and Salman Rushdie, among many celebrity guests.

Bernard worked at Sprowston Manor for 25 years and retired when he was 80 to nurse Jean who had cancer and sadly died seven months later.

It was a final chapter in an extraordinary life, but one which Bernard recalls vividly.


*His books are available through online retailers, with a third about his early life, now being written.