Leeds in the 1980s: Why the good old times were appearing outside Tetley's pubs
Signs of the times - the good old times - were appearing outside Leeds pubs in the early 1980s.
Joshua Tetley’s had begun a five year programme to provide newly created pub signs painted by local artists to every one of its 1,100 boozers stretching from Mansfield to Hexham and from the Pennines across to the East Coast.
It had begun in 1980 and by 1982 around 300 watering holes boasted attractive new designs painted by local artists after careful research into the history of the pub and the locality.
The latest in April 1882 was The Old Ball on Brownberrie Lane in Horsforth. The original Old Ball was an 18th-century farmhouse that received its first license as an alehouse in 1773, making it a long-standing part of the town’s history.
Tetley’s allowed artistic licence with the new signs but at the same time a strict insistence that no local traditions be ignored or flouted in creating the new signs.