The Bank of Friendship was a pub that I was rarely out of in the early 70's. I seem to remember an Eastern European barman with a thick accent. Did I really get served by the future President of Poland?
Arsenal fixture for presidential barman
By Alan Hamilton and Tosin Sulaiman
Times Newspaper
IN NEITHER the Gunners nor the Bank of Friendship, two pubs within shouting distance of the gates of Highbury stadium, could they recall a young part-time Polish barman named Aleksander Kwasniewski. Nor should they; it has been 30 years since he pulled pints for Arsenal fans.
Since then the North London club have taken three of the last four Premiership titles, and the barman has become President of Poland, largest of the accession countries that joined the EU last weekend.
The one constant is that President Kwasniewski remains an ardent Arsenal fan, and he was reported to be delighted that the 2-2 draw with Spurs which clinched this year’s Premiership was shown on Polish television.
Yesterday the President arrived at Heathrow to begin a three-day state visit to Britain as guest of the Queen. Amid the fixed points of state visits, the wreath-laying, banquets and talks with Tony Blair, his personal highlight will be a return this morning to the club that remains close to his heart. He will tour the stadium and meet club directors.
Staff at the Polish Embassy in London were too excited by their President’s arrival to confirm the fine detail of his background. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials involved in planning the visit, however, said that Mr Kwasniewski had spent some time in London during the 1970s, when he was a committed communist and an economics student at the University of Gdansk. He had worked as a barman to earn some money and to brush up his English.
[ 05-08-2004, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]