August 2026. Coventry.
Life After Football is that essential component you need on a pub crawl, the bloke who will veer you away from the GBG craft micro (ugh) in favour of the desi boozer, keg bar with pick-pockets, or Shisha bar with Jamaica tonic wine.
I guess those are the sort of places that top professional footballers would frequent in the ’90s, sometimes during the half-time break, and so it was that LAF persuaded us into an unexpected treat on the walk down medieval Spon Street.
In truth, I hadn’t even noticed the Fairfax “Private” Club, tucked quietly next to the shouty Toro’s Steakhouse.
I mean, it isn’t even on the CAMRA website showing all licensed premises, living and dead, back to the Great Plague.
The closest entry on that map is the next door Suave aka Rising Sun), which closed a decade ago and is now the aforementioned Toro’s. How do CAMRA branches keep up ?
Subsequent enquiries by Oxford Nick suggest that all the information about the Fairfax on the web has been completely made up,
so consider our blog posts absolutely definitive. Or ask ChatGPT.
I followed LAF to the bar, half expecting a shout of “Oi, members only !” or “Who let the riff raff in ?“,
but no-one seemed the least interested in us, bar the wonderful landlady. I guess there’s loads of places like this around St Andrews with loose or non-existent membership rules.
A slightly more wary gaggle of Pub Men followed us in, seeking tasting notes for the keg Greene King IPA, but the Abbot on handpump was GOOD (Enough), the bench seating magnificent.
A cask ale WIN in a city not renowned for it. Quinno has probably persuaded them to try Bass.
retiredmartin 
We went in a few months ago, to observe the terrible Sat evening karaoke, as an ‘ironic treat’ by a Cov friend. It wasnt as bad as I was expecting, but we only stayed for 2 rounds……
The (ex) Rising Sun, next door, once had ex Cov and Man U lad, ‘six foot two, eyes of blue, ‘big’ Jim Holtons after you’ as landlord.
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Is ‘CAMERA PRINCIPIS” on the club’s crest Latin for ‘CAMRA PRINCIPLES’ or similar?
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CAMRA has principles !
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Oh, I thought that it was just to tell you that you’d arrived at the main room.
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That’s what I told Life After Football, and I think he believed me!
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I can confirm he fell for it hook, line and sinker!!!
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This Life After Football comes over as the most genial of fellows.
However, his username leads us to speculate as to what life during football might have been, perhaps?
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The most genial of fellows and wonderful company but we only get to meet him once a year. .
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Life during football is just… football.
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Bill, but life’s not that simple, life during football can involve pubs and life after football can involve football.
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RM is too kind!!!
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This post made me chuckle out loud with the great plague comments!! Always worth a swerve off the official route as ‘unknown’ pubs (and this genuinely was) can often be gems. Bonus of decent cask to boot.
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