TV star and stand up Tom Rosenthal was a ‘really amazing, down-to-earth guy’.
That’s the verdict of Ollie Dennison who worked alongside Tom during his impromptu shift behind the bar of The Falcon pub on Micklegate.
As YorkMix reported earlier Tom, star of Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner, was pulling pints there last night (Tuesday).
Now we have the inside story of how he ended up spending a couple of hours in the historic pub.
It’s all thanks to Ollie and his girlfriend Megan Wilson. It was Megan that spotted that Tom was working on a book called Around The World In 80 Favours. This will chronicle his attempts to cross the world without paying for travel.
She invited him to do a stint in the Falcon in return for his next train ticket, and was delighted when Tom got in touch to take up the offer.
Ollie and Tom corresponded – and then he arrived on the doorstep yesterday evening, fresh from vacuuming a car in Carlisle.
“It was just a funny, weird things happen. We didn’t expect it at all,” Ollie told YorkMix.
“He was a really amazing, down-to-earth guy open to answering any questions. And he surprisingly pulled a really good pint the first time.”
Tom worked for a couple of hours. “It was funny to watch people who didn’t know who he was interact with him and just ask him for a pint,” said Ollie, who’s a student at the University of York when not working at the pub.
But plenty of people did know him – once word got out via Tom’s Instagram, fans began to call into The Falcon. And the performer was happy to chat, sign autographs and be in selfies.
In return for all his hard work, the pub paid for Tom’s next journey, to Leicester. Staff walked him round to York Station at about 7pm.
As an extra thank you he left a signed bottle of Buckfast, which is now displayed behind the bar courtesy of their alien called Roswell.
And now the Falcon is set to feature in Tom’s book, due to be published in February.
Ollie said: “To have such a historic pub immortalised in what will probably be a best selling book will be a really nice cool thing.”
Tom is the first star to come to The Falcon since it reopened after its refurbishment last year. But they don’t want him to be their last.
“Cameron, the owner of the pub, is a massive fan of Bruce Springsteen, and we’re kind of hoping one day to bring him into the pub,” Ollie said.
“Having Tom Rosenthal here was very good, and I’m hoping that he is the first in a long line of celebrities we have in our in our time here at the Falcon.”
[tptn_list limit=3 daily=1 hour_range=1]