The barman has started wearing glasses

He never used to wear spectacles

but recently he’s had them on.

‘Well I suppose I’ll be needing these now.’

He used to hang out with a girl called Sarah

she DJd at the indie disco

but she’s not been round here for a while now.

He always used to have a book on.

the new Nick Hornby

even the ones that weren’t about football or music

but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him

absorbed in a paperback at the end of the bar

turning pages between serving customers.

He went away to start university

but came back two months later.

‘Well at least you gave it a try’

I heard the ginger barmaid say to him.

She’s been here since before the pub opened

they fitted the hand pulls and barrels around her

and she just started serving.

I heard him tell her once he’d like to start a quiz night

But he never has done.

Photographs behind the bar of the staff and regulars

out on the street dancing at midnight on New Year’s Eve

him and Sarah with a bottle of Champagne each.

But he’s in his element when the pub’s busy

serving three customers in one go.

one of life’s good barmen

and he knows how to treat the regulars once

free things sometimes.

make sure they get free things sometimes

but he doesn’t suit his new glasses

or those black promotional t-shirts the brewery send.