Ted Banks: The Man in the Painting in Our Middle Bar

Not all the history in an old pub belongs to the building. Sometimes it belongs to the people in the pictures.

The painting of Ted Banks in our middle bar is a lovely example. My grandad, George Barrett, painted it, and behind that familiar face and eye patch is a story that takes us away from Ripponden and up to Malham, to the Buck Inn and a man my grandparents knew.

Ted was a First World War soldier. He lost an eye during the war, but exactly how it happened was something he kept to himself.

And it certainly wasn’t for want of Grandma Betty asking.

Ted sat at the Buck Inn’s bar every night, and however drunk Grandma managed to get him, she could never get that particular story out of him. Betty’s enquiries and Ted’s refusal to tell became part of the memory handed down to us. Whatever had happened, he wasn’t giving it away.

There’s humour in that recollection, but there’s something rather moving about it too. We don’t know why he wouldn’t discuss it, and I wouldn’t want to put words in his mouth all these years later. It was his experience, and perhaps some things simply weren’t for telling across a bar.

Away from the pub, the family remembers Ted going off on his bicycle every day and working as a groundsman at Coniston Hall, near Gargrave. His bike, his work and his evenings at the Buck are the everyday details that have stayed with us.

There are a few traces of him in local history, too. The Malhamdale Local History Group mentions a Ted Banks helping with the gardens at Malham Tarn House. Whether that was our Ted at another stage of his working life still needs checking, but it’s an intriguing little thread to follow.

For me, though, the strongest connection is Grandad George’s painting.

It links someone my grandparents knew in Malham with the pub our family looks after today. Ted’s face is still here in our middle bar, even though there are parts of his life we may never fully uncover.

That’s one of the things I love about a family pub. You inherit more than a building. You inherit pictures, memories and stories that somebody thought worth keeping.

So, next time you’re in the middle bar, have a look at Ted. A soldier, a groundsman, a cyclist and a regular at the Buck Inn.

Grandad George painted his portrait. Grandma Betty tried to get his story.

Between them, they made sure we’d remember him.