Pub landlords Alan and Jean Shoemake, formerly of the White Horse, Widford, the Army and Navy, Chelmsford, and the Rose and Crown, Maldon, pull their last pint on Sunday.

Alan, 64, and Jean, 66, who now run the Crab and Winkle, in Peterborough, officially retire from the licenced trade on Monday, and although they left Essex in 1983, have strong links with the county and Chelmsford in particular.

Alan is the son of Cliff Shoemake, who was governor of Chelmsford Prison from 1957 until 1962, and Jean is the daughter of Detective Chief Inspector Harry Burden, who before he retired was based at Police Headquarters, Springfield, and at one time was second in command of Essex CID.

Her brother was Chelmsford CID officer, David Burden, who died last year.

There will be a 'surprise' party for Alan and Jean at the Crab and Winkle on Sunday, organised by their sons Gary, 34, a sales manager, and Kevin, 37, a marketing manager. They have been discreetly trying to contact any Essex friends, staff and customers, who would like to wish their parents' well.

Kevin, an ex-Chelmsford City goal keeper in the days when the team played at New Writtle Street, says that his family had many happy memories of Chelmsford, and recalls how the Chronicle published a photograph of the White Horse "regulars" celebrating his birth, in January 1965, outside the pub, against the background of a sign proclaiming "It's a Boy."

He says: "Dad, famously, evicted "The Who" from the bar when they visited Chelmsford in the 1960's because he thought they were improperly dressed, certainly not to his saloon bar standards. In those days many customers wore blazers and flannels in the bar and the rock group was wearing jeans and T-shirts."

His parents moved to the Army and Navy in 1967 and stayed for 10 years. "Morecambe and Wise called in when they opened Tony Appleton's carpet shop in the town, and there were regular visits from Ipswich Town players, Arsenal, Norwich City, West Ham, and the regulars from the Essex Cricket Club," he says.

Alan and Jean left the Rose and Crown in 1983, and before taking on the Crab and Winkle in 1990 ran pubs in Kent and South London.

Kevin also has memories of his grandfather Shoemake, who at one stage in his prison career had one of the Kray brothers in his care.

"When my grandparents retired to Suffolk the Kray family bought a house round the corner. Grandfather always said they did it to spite him."

Published Friday, March 22, 2002