Tributes to Morecambe cafe and bar boss

A man who was at the heart of Morecambe's thriving entertainment scene during its heyday has died, aged 92.

Robert Jones, known as Bob to friends and family, was a manager at some of the town’s most popular venues during the 1960s and 1970s.

Bob was born in Lowick Green, near Coniston, and grew up in the Lake District.

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He served in the Second World War for the Parachute Regiment.

Bob was in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and served in Palestine, India and Burma.

He moved to our area during the 1960s and took over the former Lancastrian pub on Penny Street, today known as the Apothecary.

From there he ran the bars at the Central Pier, the Morecambe Bowl (now Gala Bingo) and the Dixieland Bar at the Winter Gardens.

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Later he and his wife Kathleen opened the Pegasus Cafe next door to Vittles on Green Street in Morecambe.

They took it over when it was a fish and chip shop then knocked through to create the cafe.

During its heyday the cafe was incredibly popular with people queuing around the corner to get in during peak times.

Bob and Kathleen would work seven days a week from Easter to October to keep the cafe running.

Bob did the cooking while Kathleen ran ‘front of house’.

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The cafe closed in the 1980s after the nearby Poulton Market shut down.

In retirement, Bob was a keen fell walker.

He did the Three Peaks Challenge for the Parachute Regiment at the age of 71.

Former Morecambe licensee Mick Dennison said he recalls Bob performing press-ups in the York Hotel in Morecambe in his 80s and said he was “immaculately dressed and fit as a fiddle”.

Others on social media group Morecambe and Heysham Past and Present paid tribute to Bob as a “true gent”.

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Bob, who was well known for his magnificent handlebar moustache, lived in Morecambe during his retirement.

Then, some years after Kathleen died, he moved in to the Morecambe Bay Care Home on Gleneagles Drive near Broadway.

He passed away on June 8.

Bob was given full parachute regiment honours at his funeral. He was much loved by his son, Howard, two grandchildren, Faye and the late Howard Spencer, and two great grandchildren Courtney and Eve.

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