Now one of Huddersfield's longest surviving landlords is celebrating his 20-year tenure by taking the pub back to that era. For five hours only, starting at 7pm on Friday, November 7, prices for beer and lager will be reduced to those of 1988.

Drinkers will be charged just 74 pence instead of £2.50 for a pint of bitter and 94 pence for a pint of lager. All other prices will remain at current levels. Pie and peas will be served at 9pm.

Nigel, 52, a married, father-of-two, has spent his entire working life in the catering and licensed trade mainly in the Calderdale and Bradford area though there were spells in Cornwall too.

He said: "The party might cost me £500 but I am looking forward to it. I have been thinking about doing something like this for some time. You can't let a milestone like this pass can you? When I walked in here I was 32 years old, I was two stones lighter and I had dark hair.''

A traditional pub on Westbourne Road, Marsh, it has boasted only a handful of landlords over the last century including Edwin Earnshaw who stayed 29 years from 1907-1936.

But times change and modern customers will find gaming machines, piped pop music and a large colour TV for major sporting events.

Huddersfield pub historian, Dave Green, said the pub appears to have been first licensed in 1845.

The pub was once forced to close for a while after it was discovered gambling had been permitted on the premises.

Colin Gower, a regular for the past 20 years, says the pub's clientele and atmosphere have changed over the years.

He said: "Twenty years ago The Croppers was a regular watering hole for smartly dressed businessmen in collars-and-tie who would come in at 5.30pm and commandeer part of the bar. The air would be thick with smoke and the smell of gin.

"It was quite a chauvinistic place though that has changed now. It is very popular with women these days and pensioners coming in for their lunch.

"There is a lot of talk these days about the landlord needing to be a big character and drawing people into the pub but Nigel would rather have his head over a hot stove than in front of the optics. He relies entirely on his judgment of his staff who charm regulars and newcomers alike.''