Many foreign tourists dream of finding the ‘Typical British Pub’

visualising it as old and cosy, gleaming with polished wood and brass, filled with good company and presided over by a genial landlord. But now that so many breweries are pursuing ‘modernisation’ policies that de-humanise their premises, visitors are more likely to encounter an atmosphere of clinical artificiality. But not so at one little house at East-the-Water, Bideford. Oh no! where a tradition of national hospitality rests safe in the hand of a licensee who has been in the business for 30 years.

Mrs Ella Bond took over ‘The Ship On Launch’ when her mother-in-law died, so an unusual sequence of female management had been sustained for 60 years. Mrs Bond junr became licensee when her late husband joined the RAF in World War II. When he returned home, she continued to take her full share of the work. Though ably supported by her daughter and son-in-law, who live on the premises, and by other helpers, Mrs Bond’s day starts at 7.30am and ‘it is always gone midnight before get to bed.’

As one would expect, Mrs Bond’s premises are spick and span – sparkling with rows of hanging glass tankards, and shining with copper and brass. There is parquet flooring underfoot, a high-backed settle here and there, and wood-topped Victorian tables with decorative cast-iron tables. Round beams support the low ceilings – obviously masts from the shipyard which used to be opposite, and from which the house derives its most unusual name.

“I could write a book about my experiences” she smiled – but pressed for details, was too discreet to divulge any. “We hold a Harvest Festival service here when customers bring in produce that is later auctioned for the blind, and for the funds of St Peter’s Church. Then at Christmas time, the Rector of Bideford conducts carols in the bar.”

1975 is ‘European Heritage Year’ What could be more worthy of preservation, and more typical of our way of life, that the genuine family occupied, well-run, characteristic ‘local’ as exemplified by Mrs Bond and her fascinating ‘Ship On Launch.;

Gazette article dated April 1975