MENTION of an old-time Sutton pub, nicknamed the Red Rat (this page, April 26) brought back a boyhood shudder for a reader who wishes to be identified only as LOS.
He was a pupil at the old Sutton National School (the 'Nash') around the early 1920s when that Ellamsbridge Road watering hole was in its pomp.
The school overlooked the brook-side pub, and LOS and his chums used to squirm at its name, imagining all sorts of gingery rodents scuttering inside the premises.
The pub gots its universal nickname (none of the locals now seem able to recall its authentic title) because heavy chemical pollution of the nearby brook dyed the fur of the bankside rats a reddish hue.
AND LOS wonders how many, like himself, can recall the name of the ladylady of that era, Susie Maley, apparently a well-known character in those parts. I'd love to hear more about her.
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