Graeme Jameson 1940 -2002 Belmont Abbey 1955-1958

Graeme Jameson, the former landlord of the Wykeham Arms at Winchester who has died aged 61, was one of the country's most remarkable licensees.
Located on one of the city's oldest streets, and sandwiched between the Cathedral Close and the College (William of Wykeham's 14th-century foundation), the pub became, under Jameson's dynamic management from 1984 to 1998, something akin to a shared common room for the two institutions. It was the place to learn what was going on behind the scenes in both.
The quality of its wines and food also attracted the Western Circuit barristers appearing at the Crown Court, while the winning of many national prizes attracted customers from far and wide. For five consecutive years The Wykeham Arms was the Wine Pub of the Year; the AA awarded its restaurant four rosettes; and its once spartan accommodation was transformed into a small top-class hotel.

Yet until he took over the licence Jameson lacked any experience of running a pub. His previous 20 years had been spent working for various divisions of Courtaulds, and by 1974 he was worldwide marketing director for its subsidiary, International Yacht Paints. This had brought him to Winchester, and to the bar of the Wykeham Arms, where, as a regular, he came to recognise its potential for something special in the licensed trade. He managed to secure the licence when it fell vacant, and spent a few weeks in another Winchester pub learning the ropes.The secret of Jameson's success lay in a combination of business skill, great personal charm, genuine interest in people, the conviction that a pub had a responsibility to the community around it, and extraordinary generosity.
On a cold winter's day, the door was left open to reveal inside a huge, blazing log fire. Those attracted by the prospect of warmth and refreshment found themselves in a treasure house of pictures, prints and bric-a-brac reflecting the inn's history and associations.
A portrait of William of Wykeham was naturally accorded the place of honour, though it was exceeded in size by a picture of Winston Churchill, for Jameson was fiercely patriotic. A bishop's mitre was donated by an Episcopal customer, and part of the restaurant, which had once been a clockmaker's shop, housed a fine collection of antique watches.
Most important of all, however, was the engaging presence of the landlord himself - a beaming, articulate, and always immaculately dressed figure who made every customer feel more than welcome and deserving of special attention. His staff consisted almost exclusively of young people, often South Africans, who added to the liveliness of the house. His own mischievous sense of humour added to the jollity.
Regulars celebrating a birthday or some personal achievement were invariably rewarded with a bottle of good Champagne - he was a fine judge of French wines and kept a pied-à-terre in Burgundy in order to maintain contact with the growers. Bouquets of flowers went to homes where there was illness or other troubles, and elderly people were always treated with special respect.
When Winchester Cathedral was raising money for the endowment of its choral foundation in the early 1990s, Jameson undertook to find £60,000 to provide the capital required for a lay clerk's salary. They were, after all, among his best customers after daily Evensong. In next to no time he had persuaded his other customers to subscribe, by a variety of ingenious means, £30,000, which he then doubled from his own pocket.
When, in the course of a visit to Winchester in 1993, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had lunch with the Bishop and other local notables, it was natural that Jameson should be given responsibility for the catering. He was hugely embarrassed when, in the same year, having provided at his own expense a splendid lunch for a large contingent of visiting Benedictine monks including the late Cardinal Hume, a member of his staff put salt rather than sugar on the strawberries. The Dean passed this off as a local form of Benedictine austerity, and an alternative pudding was provided with miraculous speed.
Jameson led a successful campaign against the use of local historic streets as a rat-run by commercial vehicles, and was made to pay for this by an 18-month boycott of the Wykeham Arms by taxi drivers. Later, when the nearby sub-post office was in danger of closure, he took it over, combining it with what soon became a high quality wine and food shop.
Graeme Jameson was born at Finchley, north London, on October 23 1940, and was educated at Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire, where his lasting interest in cricket and rugby began. From there he went to Regent Street Polytechnic for a course in business studies. This was followed by a short-service commission in the Royal Artillery and, when this was completed in 1964, he joined Courtaulds. He died on August 22.
The presence of 1,000 people, some of whom had travelled from America, at his funeral in Winchester Cathedral was striking testimony to the affection in which he was held by those who patronised the pub.
He is survived by his wife Anne, who was an important partner in his enterprises, and their daughter; he is also survived by a son and daughter from his first marriage.

Daily Telegraph (05/09/02)