Pub dog

When we first started going regularly to the Dolphin when we moved to Uphill, there was a pub dog, Penny, otherwise known as Mrs Pen. Mrs pen wasn’t owned by anyone associated with the pub but she was a real character, and of all the dogs who were welcomed into the pub she was the pub dog.

Who knows anything about Mrs Pen’s early life; she was spotted by Terry in Gloucester, tied to a lamp-post. Terry had business in Gloucester, and when he came back many hours later, the poor dog was still tied to the lamp-post. Without more ado, Terry united her and pout her in his cab and brought her home to Uphill where she lived a long and very happy and interesting life.

Penny was a sort of collie type dog, utterly devoted to her family but actually, in truth, not much interested in anyone else. She had acute hearing and could hear a packet of crisps being opened from the other end of the pub.

Now there is a new pub dog, who is as much of a character as Mrs Pen. Simba is owned by the pub and is as much of a character as Mrs Pen. Simba is a jug, a cross between a Jack Russell and a pug. Simba is truly lord of the pub, and has been joined by Timon, another jug.

We were sitting having a cup of tea in La Cucina, a restaurant and tea room opposite the pub when I spotted Simba… The pub dog.