Limited edition print of The Pub, Valletta, Malta

The Pub print is 22cm x 30cm image size not including the white boarder paper.

No self-respecting Brit who likes the odd pint could visit Malta without dropping into the last watering hole of the late Oliver Reed. On May 2 1999, Oliver Reed visited The Pub while on a break in the filming of Ridley Scott’s epic Gladiator.

Ollie being Ollie had a fair few, when in rolled a group of British sailors from HMS Cumberland. More drinks ensued and he was challenging them all to a bit of arm wrestling.

It is not recorded on whether he won or not, though a short while later, he collapsed and died on one of the Pubs bench seats. So ended a legend, dying how he had lived. On one long party.

After working on my drawing and painting, I popped inside for a Guinness to pay my respects. I considered the challenge of drinking his last round, though as it was eight beers, twelve double rums and half a bottle of whisky I thought better of it.

It is a tiny interior, no bigger than a modest living room. There are of course a few photos of Reed on the walls. Also adorning the walls are named cap tallies, Royal Navy badges and other memorabilia from HMS ships. This was just the sort a British Royal Navy pub I recall from my childhood in the seventies in Portsmouth. They are all gone now, just like dear old Oliver Reed.