Although the Vic was never my local, I did spend many hours in there. A couple of doors down, Brown's Restaurant, was really popular, and on a Friday or Saturday night, you might wait a couple of hours for a table. Happily, you could toddle into the Vic, down a few beers, and the waitress from Brown's would come and collect you when your table was free. Happy days. And, when you'd finished eating, pop over the road to The Cottage for a late night coffee.

I remember the Victory well. As sixth formers at Westlain Grammar in the 1960s we would often have a pint or two there (illegally in some cases), and would also relish a coffee and one of Ian Muzio's spaghetti bologneses in the Cottage Coffee Bar across the road. Happy Days!

This is one of the few pubs in the area that has been well treated by restorers and owners with the facade and signage looking better now than it did in the 1970s , when this part of Duke Street was looking a little forlorn. Now, if the owners of the building to the left could be pursuaded to have it painted...