Above: A current photo of the Row Barge Pub in Henley, Inbetween: George Harrison smiling in a pub in 1978 (whether it's the Row Barge or not is unknown) Photo by: Olivia Harrison, Below: George and Olivia Harrison with Dot Mitchell and her husband Norman at the Remenham Club in Henley, mid-1970s.
George Harrison + The Row Barge Pub
"We [Palin, Eric Idle, and George Harrison] all walked down to the local pub -- where we drank Brakspear’s Henley Ales and played darts." - Michael Palin, Oct. 1975, Diaries 1969-1979
"George heard that it was the birthday of Dot Mitchell, then the landlady at The Row Barge, his local public house. He called her to one side and, teasingly, told her to hold out her hand and close her eyes. Then, he dropped three perfect, impossibly valuable rubies into her hand. ‘Have a nice birthday,’ he told her.” - Eric Idle (1978)
"There’s a photo of George on the wall with Edward Heath -- he signed it to the guy who owns the place, 'To Norman, a little fellow everybody likes -- George and little Eddie'. They have a D. Horse sticker on the counter. A bit later this older couple came in, Phyllis & Tom. We went over and sat with them all night [...] They said that after Dhani was born George came in a lot and was so happy and proud and was telling everyone about him [...] [Phyllis] said she saw George just before Xmas carrying a Christmas tree on his back up the hill to F. Park -- some Hindu! [...] George had this hat on once and she said she liked it, and he gave it to her! She has a photo of her dancing with him that she said she’d show us next time we came." - WALH fanzine issue #25 (1979) [x]
"George and I had gone down to the pub that night to relax and get a little drunk. It turned out to be Norman’s birthday, so he closed the bar a little early to celebrate, and we stayed along with a few of Norman’s friends. After a few rounds, someone produced a guitar, gave it to George, and George proceeded to play every Beatles song he could remember." - Neil Larsen, Circus Weekly (April 1979) [x]
“George himself was a generous and intelligent man who suffered no fools, and he was always very private. He used to enjoy a drink at the Row Barge pub in Henley but he didn’t go into the town as much after John Lennon was shot.” - George Rob (Friar Park stonemason) [x]
"So my friend Nicole told me a story of how she used to work in the pub where George Harrison would bike to regularly and how one christmas instead of tipping all of the waitresses there like usual he bought every single one of them a small diamond necklace. They were all so stunned and thankful and oh my god so happy and he hugged them all and he said his wife helped him pick them out. And oh my god how can you not love this man." - niceboulder [x]
"I was in the pub one night [in 1986/87] -- as you do -- I got talking to the landlady behind the bar, and I go, 'Is that George Harrison's house across the road?' She goes 'Yeah. Oh, he does come in here occasionally.' I'm just [sarcastically] yeah 'course he does, kind of thing.
So I was talking, and some of the people I was with were talking, and suddenly this bloke comes in. Bit scruffy-looking at first. I looked at him and thought, 'I know him. I know him. I really do know him.' He was polite. He acknowledged everybody. He just said something like, 'Good evening, all,' and he walked into the room in the back. Now this room at the back, nobody else could go in. It was a private room.
So I looked at the landlady, and she goes, 'Yeah that was George Harrison,' and I go, 'What, really?' She goes 'Yeah'.
Then many years later after George had died, apparently, he left some money in his will -- I don't know how true this story is, but I think he left something in his will to the landlady of this pub because she kept that room at the back just for him. Nobody else could go in. People with him could go in, but members of the public couldn't. I think it was like George's little hideaway where he could just be himself, and obviously having to go across the road to the pub sort of thing probably made him feel a bit more normal? If that's the right word." - Beatle Dave [x]
