OUR latest snapshot into the past is a real ray of light.

We're heading back to a bygone era for one of Colchester's town centre pubs - The Sun Inn, in Maidenburgh Street.

Reader Ron Stott made contact and sent a picture of his uncle and aunt, Sid and Olga Stott.

The pair ran the pub, which is now a residential house but has a small sun ornament on the wall, paying homage to the building's former life.

Ron said: "I was a teenager at the time with fond memories of them and the pub.

"My dad would take my older brother to Greyfriars adult learning centre every Monday in the late 1970s.

"I'd go with them and my dad and I would go to wait in The Sun to see his brother, Sid (and for my dad to have a pint).

"I wasn’t allowed in the saloon bar but they had a lounge bar with a television high up in the corner of the room.

"Monday nights were either The Two Ronnies, The Sweeney or Monty Python. All iconic stuff.

"I'd have a bottle of coke and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. What more could you want?

"The pub, from memory, was quite small and cosy and I pretty much had the lounge bar to myself.

"There always seemed to be a wall of cigarette smoke and strong smelling ale that separated the two.

Gazette: The Sun

"It's something the younger generation won't experience - probably for the best!

"As for my uncle and aunt, I really got a sense that the pub was their home."

According to the excellent website closedpubs.co.uk, The Sun Inn was present before 1764 and closed in 1979.

It followed the well-trodden ownership route from Colchester Brewing Company to Ind Coope in the 1930s.

Do you memories and old photos to share with our readers?

Email matt.plummer@newsquest.co.uk and be sure to join our new 'We grew up in Colchester and Tendring' Facebook group.

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