Geoff's beer mat collection up for sale

When Telford grandfather Geoff Bailey was a young man and discovered the joys of ale and pubs he started collecting beer mats.

What started out as a hobby ended up an all-consuming passion as he begged, borrowed, swapped, but never stole, about 250 beer mats from pubs across the county in the 1960s and 1970s.

His collection is a hark-back to a bygone era, when cigarette companies were allowed to advertise wherever they pleased and Park Drive and Woodbine sat on beer mats alongside Bass and Worthington's.

Mr Bailey, now 63 and retired, consigned the collection to history when he put it up in the loft at his home in Hadley Park Road, Hadley, Telford, about 15 years ago.

It has since made only fleeting appearances to show children and grandchildren and Mr Bailey admitted he had all but forgotten about them until a loft clear-out recently.

He has now put them up for sale and is looking for a collector to take them on.

The father-of-two said: "I started collecting them as a young man. It started off as a few and then it got more and more and more.

"I was having a clear-out in the loft recently and came across them. They are still in pretty good nick.

"There were several of us who used to collect them in those days, we would spot ones we had not got, swap them with our mates, or ask the bar staff if we could have them. It's not something you could do nowadays as there is just not the variety with your chain pubs as they all have the same beer mats."

Anyone interested in buying the beer mats can call Mr Bailey on (01952) 252609.

By Wayne Beese