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Fred and Jean Howitt
...were the landlord and landlady of the Coachman's Public House and always had a good display of flowers around the pub.
Fred and Alan Martindale, a customer, built the large planters which stand outside. The stone they used was from Sam Curry’s Electrical shop on Front Street and the soil too was donated by David Foggin from the grounds of his property. Jean won first prize in the Britain in Bloom competition for the best kept commercial premises.
Fred restarted the Leek Club and won second prize in his second year.
In the late 1970’s The Coachmans was used as a school-room by the pupils of the Parochial School because of a caretakers strike. Television cameras took pictures to publicise the use of pubs during the strike. Jean said that the cleaners had their work cut out cleaning everything in the early morning before the children came. She also remembers the time after a refurbishment when there were no ladies toilet facilities in the bar area. The ladies had to go out of the bar and walk around the back of the pub and into the lounge area where there were toilets. Alterations were later made to access the toilets from the bar by knocking a hole in the wall between the bar and the snug.