A CHARISMATIC and genial former landlord, renowned for his cocktail menu and risque sense of humour, has died aged 87.
Neil Turner, from Barningham, was a well known and much-loved publican in Teesdale. He arrived at the Milbank Arms at the tender age of five.
His parents, Samuel and Hannah, took over the pub three days before war broke out in 1939. For three decades he worked in Barmby’s wallpaper shop, in Barnard Castle, serving in Barningham’s pub at night before taking over the licence in 1987 when his mother died.
The pub earned a solid reputation, attracting customers from far and wide, including a group of women who made an annual pilgrimage from London especially for Mr Turner’s cocktails.
He continued to run the historic pub until he retired three years ago, serving customers from the cellar as there was no bar. Such was his popularity that he had not one but about six parties when he rang last orders for the final time.
The pub was given a modern makeover before being re-opened.
After retiring, Mr Turner remained in the village, moving to a cottage with his sister Brenda. Parish chairman Jon Smith said: “Neil was a one-off, a great-hearted landlord and a wonderful source of anecdotes about Barningham and its people.
“He was renowned for his vast fund of stories about the village – mostly outrageous, some of the them true, for his often-risque sense of humour and practical jokes, for his alarmingly potent cocktails, for his enormous collection of miniatures and for his widespread reputation as an unfailingly genial and generous host. He’ll be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.”
Mr Turner never married but had a large following of women from all over Teesdale whose shrieks of delight and embarrassment at his behaviour echoed round the pub on many a Saturday night. On his retirement, he told the Mercury: “It has always been a pleasure – I never treated this as a job, it was a way to fill the nights.”
Mr Turner will be cremated at Wear Valley Crematorium on Tuesday, November 16, at 3.30pm with a wake afterwards at Smallways Inn, near Barningham.
