Bob Dobson
THERE is a lovely photograph of Bob Dobson by the bar of the Sun Inn, Dent. I first got to know Bob at the end of the 1990’s when he worked behind that bar.
A retired fire officer, he lived in The Old Post Office by the entrance to Dent car park. Bob also worked part-time for Martin Stafford and Dent Brewery who then supplied the Sun.
He was passionate about good beer and good pubs, so we soon struck up a friendship that endured for the rest of his life.
When he finally stopped working for the brewery, Bob and I spent countless hours, sat at the bar of the Sun. A creature of habit, like the late Miley Taylor, you could set your watch by the time when he would walk through the back door and greet bar staff, locals and visitors alike. (Miley, whose photograph is also on the wall in the bar, used the front door!).
Bob passed away at the end of 2022 and I was honoured to say a few words at his funeral service in Dent Meditation Centre.
The assembled mourners then retired to the Sun to drink the pints he had left for us all behind the bar.
Bob and his wife Rita had a strong sense of community. In fact they had both invested in Britain’s first cooperatively owned pub, The Old Crown, Hesket Newmarket in the Lake District.
I know that Bob Dobson, if he had lived to witness the threat to the Sun, would be a passionate supporter of our campaign.
Bob loved Dent so much that he left the Old Post Office to his family so that they could stay there and visit Dentdale.
His daughter, Carol lives in West Yorkshire but comes to stay regularly and has the same feelings about our community as her dad. It is wonderful to hear that Carol, and her husband Paul, have both pledged significant amounts of their money to the Save Our Sun campaign.
This amount includes £1000, pledged in the name of Bob Dobson. We owe it to his memory to make the Sun a community pub that he would be proud of.