Rose At The Golden Heart
Rose
When Sandra Esqulant, celebrated landlady of The Golden Heart in Commercial St, saw this photo taken by Phil Maxwell of Rose sitting in her barroom more than twenty years ago she told me the story of an unforgettable character who became one of her most loved regulars.
“I loved Rose. I don’t know what happened to her, she’s got to be dead now hasn’t she?
What happened was – you know how you fall in love with some people? – this woman appeared in the pub one day and I fell in love with her. I just liked her.
She asked for a rum & lemonade, and she never had to pay for a drink in my pub.
I used to have to warn everyone when Rose was coming in because she used to pick up everyone’s cigarettes and put them in her bag.
I used to dance with her.
You might think she was dumb, but she was the most astute person I ever met. She didn’t like my husband while I was there, but when I wasn’t there it was a different story!
My husband liked her a lot.
You know I lost my husband.
When she stopped coming, I went round to the Sally Army in Old Montague St, where she lived, but they told me they didn’t know what happened to her, so I went to the Police Station and they were going to search the morgue. I kept going back to the Sally Army and this Irish woman said to me, ‘Are you looking for Rose? She moved to Commercial Rd.’ So I went round to the Commercial Rd shelter and there was Rose. She was very sad because the Sally Army had put her out after forty years. So I used to send a cab to pick her up and take her back from my pub.
The Sally Army, they should have known how fond I was of her and told me where she had gone.
One Sunday, when I was on my own, she collected all the glasses and the ashtrays and the crisp packets and emptied them over the bar. I didn’t mind, Rose could do anything in my pub.
People like Rose would go into a pub and people wouldn’t serve them, but I had everyone in here – this was the dossers’ bar!
One day, Phil Maxwell asked Rose if he could put her in one of his films and she didn’t like that, but he set his camera on the table and took these pictures. And after that, he always had her picture in his exhibitions.
She must have known I was fond of her.
She did like me.
I know she liked me.
She was lovely.
She used to talk about her daughter, but I sometimes wonder if she ever had a daughter.
At Christmas, she always asked me for a Christmas box and, of course, I always gave her one.
They moved her out after forty years, what a thing to do to someone.
If Rose was here today, I’d let her smoke in my pub – I don’t care about the law.
Very special, she was.”
Photographs copyright © Phil Maxwell
See more of Phil Maxwell’s work here
Phil Maxwell’s Kids on the Street
Phil Maxwell & Sandra Esqulant, Photographer & Muse
More of Phil Maxwell’s Old Ladies
Phil Maxwell’s Old Ladies in Colour
A beautiful story from Rose. Yes, I can well imagine that this woman, as ‘insignificant’ as she may have seemed, was a remarkable person. She knew how to live her life in a pleasant way. Very few people manage to do that.
Love & Peace
ACHIM
Loved reading about one of your regular customers – Rose who you adopted.
We had an old neighbour who was known as Old Rose who was a regular drinker in the old Queen Vic Pub nearby. She never had to buy her Guinness and never wanted for a cigarette but was well looked after by the owners/customers alike. She was a widow formerly a Policeman’s wife lived a Spartan existence no Tv or radio or even a fridge but left a very healthy bank balance. The local newsagents used to help her by taking her to the bank and bringing her home. She never had any kids and was a formidable character and kept herself to herself. She’s long gone now to that barroom in the sky but in Phil’s pics your Rose looked very similar in appearance to our Old Rose.
What a beautiful story, sad but also loving. I had a similar friend, Bart, whom we called our ‘cafe philosopher’. He lived a similar life, spending all his time in one particular cafe, profoundly affecting everyone who met him. Such a brilliant man, but couldn’t hold a steady job. So he relied on ‘the kindness of strangers’ as the saying goes. But no one ever remained a stranger for long with Bart. We all fell in love with him. Just like Rose.
What a splendid character! Would have loved to spend an afternoon with her x