Tesi Johnson, Gleaner Writer

Bartender Ricardo Johnson prepares the signature drink of the Mayfair Pub, the Mayfair Special, a combination of Gold Label, Appleton Special, White Rum, Orange Juice and clear syrup, with the exact proportions held secret by the bartender.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 is fast approaching and while here, hot and thirsty visitors will need a choice of the city's watering holes to cool off at the end of the game. How about checking out the Mayfair Pub?

Tucked away at the back of the Mayfair Hotel, West Kings House Close, is a delightful English-styled pub which has been in business for more than 40 years.

Lifestyle entered the pub one Saturday evening, to find the bartender Ricardo Johnson, 26, trying to ignore an inebriated older woman - we'll call her Ms. X - who had been in the bar since one o'clock that afternoon, and is now the sole patron.

"Let me say this categorically, you don't know anything!" bellowed Ms. X as she hurled unfounded insults at the strikingly handsome bartender. "You don't know anything young man. I've been coming here for 30 years. I used to take Mr. Royce home!"

Ricardo furrows his eyebrows, sighs, then answers the obvious question.

"Mr. Royce is one of the previous bartenders. He was here for 40 years. The other was Mervin, he was here for 25. They both retired a little over a year ago," he explained.

Mr. Royce and Mervin are like legends. Those who came in, spoke of them with reverence, nostalgic for the time when they were doing the serving.

New faces

The departure of Mervin and Mr. Royce has distorted the face of the bar according to some of the patrons.

Ms. X makes another sporadic outburst: "Let me say this categorically young man ...", the remainder of her comment inaudible through her liquor- induced slur. A frustrated Ricardo leans over the bar and offers us a drink, a Mayfair Special perhaps.

"The bar doesn't open as late now as when Mr. Royce and Mervin were here," explains Ricardo while he mixes up the combination of Gold Label, Appleton Special, White Rum, orange juice and clear syrup. It now closes at 11:00 p.m., not when the last drinker leaves, as it would in the days of Mr. Royce and Mervin.

Another patron enters, seats himself at the bar, then proceeds to join the conversation. "That could not happen when Mervin and Mr. Royce were here," gripes the man, we'll call him Mr. Mac. Mr. Mac seems to be in his late 40s and his mode of dress would suggest that he leads a comfortable suburban existence - just as it would appear with most of the Mayfair patrons. He pulls our attention away from Ricardo, and offers up a tour into Mayfair's past.

Pointing, he shows where a dart board used to hang, where the patrons would try their hand at hitting the bullseye.

He also points out a door that used to open up to a games room, where there were dominoes, ludo, backgammon and the like, to entertain the patrons. But the new owners see fit to make other use of that space.

We return to the counter where he orders another glass of vodka-on-the-rocks.

"Mayfair gone tacky now - you can buy half cue and those things. In the older days, we had our liquor one drink at a time," whines Mr. Mac. He admits that the drinks there are priced just a tad higher than a common rum bar, but "When you pay that price, you are paying for good treatment. You are treated with class."

Subsequently, a young couple enters, beckons to Ricardo and orders a half-cue of Appleton Special. How comically ironic.

"This place is characterised by its traditions, and regular customers," explains Mr. Mac, "It still is a wonderful place, the location is fantastic, it's classy, but the traditions have wavered." He continues, "when you walked through the doors, the bartender knew what you want to drink. These bartenders are still learning."

Still the same

While much has changed, much has remained the same.

The decor is largely the same, bearing odd knick-knacks strategically placed throughout the room, with a few added modern amenities. A new cable television sits atop the grand piano which will prove quite useful when the ICC Cricket World Cup gets under way. They still serve classic English pub food like club sandwiches, cottage pie and the like.

And it still is a private, cosy bar, which lends an intimate setting suitable for a rendezvous.

Brian Edwards, another patron, agrees: "Every first date I had, I would take the girl here, because then I could find out whether she could 'flex', and she would have to have a Mayfair Special. It's something of a tradition."

And Mr. Royce and Mervin still come in, not to serve, as explained by Ricardo, but to sit and have a drink with their former customers, now long time friends.

Ms. X again makes an outburst, this one actually audible: "It is one of the greatest bars in Kingston. The whole character, the faces, the people here - just how it hangs on you." And most appropriately she ends, "a no likkle rum we drink here you know," then storms out.

Ricardo is visibly relieved.

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