Bizarre journey of British pub sign that ended up in a Texas bar 4,800 miles away
An inn sign from a lost British pub showing a legendary brewery worker has found a home at a craft beer emporium in Texas.
The Charlie Butler shut in 2012 and the building was later demolished but the image of the eponymous head horseman, who started out in a time when the trade relied on the animals, lives on in Houston.
Depicted alongside a Young’s shire horse called Steve, he has been part of the backdrop for thousands of Americans who’ve sat in the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium with no idea who the Brit on the wall is.
The picture represents the former Charlie Butler pub in Mortlake, south west London, which he helped open in 1968.
Charlie, the head horse keeper for owners Young’s, had retired two years previously, having clocked up 43 years’ service.
During his tenure, their horses won more than 3,000 first prizes and championships at various shows across England.
Sam Cullen, author of London’s Lost Pubs, told Metro: ‘The Charlie Butler was always memorable for the fact it was named after an employee of its owner, Young’s brewery, on his retirement.
‘Yet it continues to surprise even after the pub itself was torn down, with Charlie now looking over the patrons of a sports bar in Houston.
‘I can’t begin to imagine how many Texans have looked up at the old pub sign and wondered, who was Charlie Butler?’
The drayman and his horse attended the Butler’s opening, with the name being a tribute by the brewers as they replaced a previous pub on the site.
Young’s gifted the sign to the owners of the Flying Saucer when they updated the boards across their estate in 2000, and it was placed among the hanging tavern plates, some marking visits by famous and noteworthy people, on the wall of the bar.
With the Butler since demolished, Charlie, who died in 1980, is one of the last links to the British pub.
Joshua Justice, of the Flying Saucer Houston, told Metro that the late John Young, then chairman of the brewery, had given the sign and several others to the owners of the bar in Texas.
‘We have had the sign since the year 2000 when we opened,’ he explained.
‘Our owners, Shannon Wynne and Keith Schlabs were gifted the sign, along with several others, in the late 90s by John Young.
‘I believe that John and his son James came over to Texas to help unveil at least one of the signs.’
The story has emerged from Cullen’s delve into London pubs that have fallen by the wayside over the years, which also include the Fox in Hackney and its links to the £6 million Security Express robbery.
The Butler was his local and he hopes to make the trip to Houston one day.
The author has also discovered that while the taps were pouring, the Charlie Butler is believed to have been the only pub in the capital named after a then-living employee of a parent brewery.
The pride once taken in the pub is evident in a picture of an identical Butler’s sign outside the premises while it was open, part of a collection of inn sign photographs by Peter Anthony Gorman.
A petition to save the pub had been supported by UK Jazz News as the venue hosted open mic nights and jam sessions.
The music website said a new landlord had turned the Butler around to make it a success, ‘particularly for aspiring and mature musicians.’
But it was to no avail.
By 2013, the pub had been demolished with the site being used for a residential block, according to a listing by the Campaign for Real Ale.
A sip of comfort can be taken from Charlie’s place among a new age of brewing at the lively Flying Saucer Houston.
If he was around today, the brewery stalwart might not recognise the tipples on offer as anything connected to the trade he knew.
They include the Jester King Juiceship, the Saint Arnold Grand Prize, and a can named the Other Half x Pinthouse Pizza Texas Toast.
*London’s Lost Pubs is available now on White Owl Books
Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk
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