Chris Sainton-Clark celebrates Pub Life in Song

Posted on 6th June 2025

The Corn Hall in Diss is about as far from North Norfolk as you can get without leaving the county, but I dare we’ve all had days out there. However, Chris Sainton-Clark didn’t come all the way across the county to tell us about the bird sanctuary at Cley or the seals at Horsey Gap. The centre of his North Norfolk is a pub that has sticky floors and peeling wallpaper and a man outside fighting with a seagull. Inside the pub are a motley crew of regulars that prop up the bar and keep the place going. Chris, the long-suffering barman, may not like them, but he needs them, if only for inspiration.

Tales from a British Country Pub was a sometimes affectionate, sometimes cruel, but always witty, portrait created through a tapestry of songs. We heard of Barry the Creep, trying chat up lines more in hope than expectation, the fruit machine addict pumping in his last pound until his next wage packet, and the perils of getting romantically involved with a cacophonous eater. All life was represented, with Hogarthian candour and steely eyed precision. The younger generation can’t communicate with each other, Big Paul can’t communicate without empty threats, while the racist communicates a queasy empathy he feels with Chris.

Where there is shade, however, there is also light, as the Drag Artist wins over her sternest critic, and even the patron previously known as Bryan turns out to be telling the truth about Taylor Swift. When he cheekily acknowledges a rap about road rage is out of place it was just one of the countless razor-sharp quips that rewarded the attentive listener. There was broad humour too, and some fine guitar playing, in what was a cleverly crafted whimsical impression of the sort of pub you walk into, only to hastily walk back out again.