AROUND 30 years ago, Mrs Forest View and I undertook a pub crawl of the 137 pubs then in the Forest of Dean District Council area.

It took 18 months, but it was a rewarding expedition, and revealed some hidden parts of the forest and some charming, out-of-the-way and interesting buildings and locations. Since then, over 30% of those pubs have closed, and I think that the forest is poorer for the loss of these amenities.

There are some Forest villages that are now publess. One of these is Tutshill, which has lost the ‘Live and Let Live’ and the ‘Cross Keys’ in the intervening years.

I was particularly sad to hear of the demise of the Cross Keys. In the mid 1970s, when I was living in St Briavels, I was working in Cardiff and would meet one or two St Briavels friends who were working in Bristol in the Cross Keys on our way home from work.

The landlord of the pub was Brian Harris, who was an ex-Everton footballer (from an age when Everton were doing somewhat better than they are doing today). He was in the Everton cup winning side of 1964. As well as for his playing career, in which he played in every position for his club apart from goalkeeper, he is still remembered on Merseyside as the player who donned a police helmet which was lost by a policemen chasing an unruly spectator across the pitch. At the end of his playing career he became a football club manager first of Cardiff, then Newport, before he became landlord of the Cross Keys.

He was a genial and hospitable pub host and became a friend to us St Briavels commuters. As a famous ex-footballer, he was invited to play for the Tutshill football club, whose ground was (and is) just over the road from the Cross Keys pub. He was anxious to support his local football team, so, in his forties, he signed up to play for them.

This turned out to be something of a disaster for Brian, as he seemed to be targeted by opponents who were out to get one over on a famous football star. Unwisely, Brian retaliated, and so was sent off by a referee and banned by the football authorities, thus bringing an ignominious end to a distinguished football career.

I must admit that I didn’t see the match in question, but I would loyally support my friend Brian’s defence of his conduct at the time.

Subsequently, Brian retired to Chepstow. The Cross Keys pub struggled after his departure for a few years, holding some quiz nights that I can recall, but eventually it closed down and was converted into flats.

Brian died in Chepstow in 2008, and the Live and Let Live also closed down, leaving Tutshill without a pub for local people, or for St Briavels commuters to gather in on their way home.

Brian was still remembered fondly in Liverpool, where his funeral was conducted.