A successful publican

Jim O'Donnell was the licensee of the Woy Woy Hotel (The Old Pub) for at least two decades.

He was a very successful publican and a brilliant entrepreneur.

Jim was of average height and a natty dresser.

He always wore a business shirt, a vest, smartly creased trousers, highly polished shoes and sported a bow-tie on all occasions.

Jim moved around the bar at peak times, chatting, lighting the odd cigarette and shouting the odd beer.

If the Woy Woy football team had won the final or his daughter had a birthday, or any other auspicious occasion, Jim would shout the whole bar.

A meticulous operator, he always supervised the bar and cellar and made sure his beer lines were cleaned regularly.

His Tooheys beer was the best on the Coast.

This fact stemmed from Jim's exceptional management and supervision.

As an entrepreneur, Jim introduced professional and amateur entertainers to his beer garden on Friday and Saturday nights and on Sunday afternoons and evenings, to bona fide travellers only in those days.

There were singing waiters, a four-piece band which included a banjo player of world-renown.

He was a remarkable player.

There were talent quests, singers, comedians and female impersonators from Sydney.

Lots of old-time sportsmen used to frequent the pub: old footballers, boxers such as Norky Fowler, and old jockeys.

One little chap, an ex-jockey, used to get himself legless.

Jim, the perfect host that he was, would call a taxi and then escort the old jockey to the cab.

Yes, Jim was the perfect gentleman, yet he ran a tight ship - no rough stuff.

He was quick to get rid of trouble-makers.

Jim was also very physically fit.

He would swim the tidal baths opposite the pub every morning, summer and winter.

Sadly, all good things end.

Jim and his family sold up, and the Woy Woy hotel was never the same.

Keith Whitfield, Woy Woy