THE art of pub landlordship is complex. You are running a business, tending, serving and selling a volatile product, possibly serving food in competition with nearby restaurants and staying friendly yet firm with a wide spectrum of customers.

A number of local landlords have become renowned and unforgettable characters.

But fading from living memory now is one who ran a notable Huddersfield pub with style, hard work and good humour for nearly 40 years – Sarah Clough, landlady of the Nag’s Head Inn, Ainley Top.

Sarah ran the pub from 1923 to shortly before her death in 1960.

Two of her grandchildren, Harold Clough and Margaret Webber, shared their memories recently with researcher Elaine Wortley, of Golcar, and those memories form the basis of this feature.

Elaine said: “Sarah would always address the last lingering customers after time was called with a hypnotic chant: ‘Come come, come! Let’s have your glasses! Haven’t you got a home to go to?’”

Sarah was born Sarah Denmar in Barnsley in 1873 and spent her childhood in the suburb of Darfield.

Her father came from Doncaster and her mother from Clayton West. Sarah’s working life started in her teens as a servant to a family in Saltaire, Shipley.

She married Samuel Clough in 1897. Sarah and Samuel were licensees consecutively of three notable Yorkshire pubs.

They owned the Stansfield Arms at Apperley Bridge, Yeadon, where their five children, Thomas, Mary Ellen, Edith, William and John, were born.

They moved to Clough House, Rastrick and ran that for several years before Sam managed to acquire the Nag’s Head for £1,000 at auction in 1922.

It was Sam who planted the ivy that now covers much of the building.

“£1,000 for the pub was considered a snip even then,” said Elaine.

But Sam died unexpectedly the same year and Sarah, aged 50, was left with a decision on whether to soldier on as licensee.

The pub was a free house and came with a barn, orchard and three acres of land on which Sarah kept hens, turkeys and geese – even a pig at one stage.

Sarah enlisted the help of her children and turned the pub into a lively bustling hostelry, well known to both Huddersfield and Elland regulars.

“The main entrance went straight into a small pleasant bar with the lounge area to the left and the tap room to the right,” said Elaine.

“Sarah would sit among her customers in her favourite spindle-backed chair by the fire.

“In the lounge was an old long railway carriage seat, bought by Sarah’s daughter, Nellie.

“Years later after Nellie had died and even when the seat’s springs had completely gone, Sarah insisted that the seat stay in memory of her beloved daughter.”

Sarah’s extended family kept the pub going and each member had their allotted task. One daughter-in-law’s job was to ‘ruddle’ (clean and stain red) the entire pub floor every week.

Long before bar snacks were popular, Sarah’s custom was to serve ‘sop suppers’ – gravy, beef and bread.

Elaine said: “On Sundays, a Market Street fishmonger came up to the Nag’s Head by tram with baskets of oysters.

“Sarah served each customer with four, each dish sprinkled with paprika and vinegar, on a plate with brown bread and butter.”

Sarah’s health began to fail in the late 1950s – notably her eyesight – but she held the inn until just before her death in 1960, aged 87.

It was sold by auction at Silvio’s cafe, Westgate, that year to a Mr and Mrs Bates of the Pack Horse Hotel, Kirkgate, for £11,100.