HE once took on the famous Manchester United side featuring George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law.
But now former Town player Bob Wallace has a new challenge – turning round a Colne Valley pub.
The top amateur golfer has re-opened the Scape House Inn.
Bob, 64 today, and his wife Liz began serving pints at the revamped Scapegoat Hill bar last week.
“The pub has been doing nothing for the past two years, just keeping the doors open,” he said.
The Scape House closed last month while Bob and Liz took over and revamped the venue.
“It was a horrible green colour but we’ve gone back to neutral colours and cleared it up a bit. We took eight skiploads of rubbish away,” he said.
Bob and Liz reopened the Scape House last Wednesday.
Bob said: “We’re going to start serving restaurant-type food. We want to create a relaxed pub-type atmosphere but with good food.”
Bob, who used to run the Wappy Spring at Lindley Moor, is looking forward to living and working in Scape.
“It’s a lovely area with great views and the locals have been very friendly, they all said ‘hello’ while we were doing the revamp and told us they were looking forward to the pub reopening,” he said.
Bob is confident he can add the Scape House Inn to the list of successful Colne Valley pubs.
“Within the area, there are places doing well like the New Inn at Marsden, the Golcar Lily and the Jack O’Mitre at Scammonden,” he said.
“But people don’t want to go to the same place all the time. I’m optimistic about the future – we’ve only to do the right things.”
Bob is used to success. He is Huddersfield’s top amateur golfer, winning the Union’s Seniors Championship at Crosland Heath last year.
He also played professional football in the 1960s and 1970s – including a four-match spell at Town.
Bob achieved his greatest success at Halifax Town from 1967 to 1972.
The midfielder scored a penalty in a famous 2-1 win for the Shaymen against Manchester United in a pre-season friendly in 1971.
