It’s something of a (British) pub institution: the lonely old man who sits on his own, slowly imbibing his pint as less regular patrons of the establishment give cursory glances his way, intentionally avoiding contemplating what has led him to his solitary perch. Indeed, I have been guilty of such willful ignorance.
But then I’m not Benjamin Lopez, bar manager at The Lord Byron in Northampton, England, who decided to sit down with his bar’s own solitary drinker, John.
As Benjamin told LADbible,
“I’ve been here as the manager for a month and I saw John would come in every day, Monday to Friday, and have his pint of John Smith’s. He never speaks to anyone – people are friendly and they’ll say hi to him, but he’s always alone.
“So I decided to chat to him and we got on great. He seemed really happy to talk to me, and opened up a bit about his life.
“He told me that he has no family anymore. Both his parents and his brother had died and he has no wife or kids. He said he lives alone and doesn’t really get the chance to talk to anyone anymore.”
After hearing John’s story, Benjamin decided to spread the word of his situation on the bar’s Facebook account:
