On the day after the death of rock legend, Ozzy Osbourne, we visited his little-known former Shropshire wine bar - tucked away on a cobbled street in Newport.
00:00So we're here in Ozzy's Bar and we're here with owner James. Hello sir. Hello, how are you?
00:06Good thank you buddy. So tell us a little bit about yourself. How long have you owned Ozzy's Bar?
00:12We took over in 2012, so we've been here 13 years now.
00:16So you would have had the chance then, if you'd have wanted to, to change the name. How come you decided to stick with Ozzy's?
00:22Well, basically because of how famous he is, and he's a big call in the town, so we would have been suicide to change the name.
00:31Yeah. And so everybody knew it as Ozzy's.
00:33And have you had people over the years kind of coming in saying, oh yeah, we've seen him in here once.
00:38Yeah, lots of customers have still drank with Ozzy at the time, and people have come in just for photos.
00:45Well that's the point actually, I suppose, to people in the know, if they do the whole full circuit,
00:51of, you know, tracing Ozzy's life. Yeah, I suppose you get the Jaws people in as a tourist.
00:56You get like a bit of a tourist thing, you know, where people periodically come in with cameras and have photos outside.
01:02Yeah. Photos inside.
01:04Because it's their little connection to him, because obviously he's living in America.
01:09You never tempted to do the old white line, telling him your cousin Oz will sign an autograph or something.
01:16Do you know what I mean?
01:18No, I think I'll get away with it. It's not long enough.
01:21Yeah, true, true. So what's, did Black Sabbath and Ozzy's music, were they ever on your kind of playlist back in the day?
01:28No. You can say no, don't worry.
01:30Not massively now, so I'm not going to lie to you. No, it weren't really.
01:33But I do like it, to be fair. Yeah.
01:35I think Ozzy's got a great voice.
01:36Yeah, you know, in terms of that world of music, he was top of his game, wasn't he?
01:41Oh, 100%, yeah. You know, the heavy metal thing, I wasn't, not really been my genre of music.
01:46Yeah, yeah.
01:47But, yeah, I mean, you can listen to it, he's good.
01:50And just as a character, I mean, that series in the Osbournes, and you know, a lot of people got to know him via that.
01:56He was just hilarious, wasn't he?
01:57Well, it was just, it was golden TV, wasn't it? I remember it at the time.
02:00Yeah, yeah.
02:01It was like their big thing on MTV, wasn't it?
02:03Huge, wasn't it?
02:04And nobody missed it, did they? You waited.
02:07Yeah.
02:08Whatever night it was on back in them days, Friday nights, I think it was.
02:11So, you know, we've just done him at Villa Park doing the gig not long ago, so I think the fact he was on a stage singing and rocking out not long ago makes it all that more of a shock of him passing, really.
02:21Yeah.
02:22Were you quite surprised yourself to him?
02:23Yeah, I've got customers who went to the gig, and I've actually bought me programmes and stuff, which we are going to frame and put on the wall.
02:30Oh, yeah.
02:31Along with, we've got one on the wall at the moment with a gig he did in 81.
02:35Oh, okay.
02:36So, it's quite nice that we've got his last one as well.
02:39Yeah, definitely, yeah.
02:40Yeah, so that would be a nice bit of memory burning on the wall.
02:43So, a tinge of sadness when you found, when you heard the news like?
02:46Yeah, definitely, yeah. I mean, obviously we never knew the man, but yeah, definitely, definitely, yeah.
02:50I mean, I guess all we could ask for in life is to get to a decent age, have an adventure and be surrounded by the people we love at the end, so I guess he's ticked those boxes.
03:00He's ticked every box there, hasn't he?
03:02Yeah.
03:03He's had a wild time on the way as well.
03:04Great stuff.
03:05Yeah, yeah.
03:06Well, thank you for letting us in and sharing those few memories and your part in the Aussie history is intertwined.
03:12That's right.
03:13The very small part of it.
03:14So, you used the work here?
03:16I did.
03:17I did.
03:18So, what's your name then?
03:19Alison Edwards now, but powering back in those days.
03:23So, what year were we talking about that you was here then working, roughly?
03:2881.
03:2981.
03:30So, you used to work for the big man?
03:32Yes, I did.
03:33Well, his wife.
03:34His wife had the license.
03:35Thelma.
03:36Yeah.
03:37Had the license name above the door.
03:39And he used to pop down, didn't he?
03:42Yeah, he did.
03:43Yeah, yeah.
03:44I was just reminiscing with the owner now.
03:48Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.
03:51Yeah.
03:52There was the village across the road so that people would come and meet here first.
03:58Okay.
03:59His name attracted people to the wine bar.
04:02Yeah.
04:03And Robert Plant was here.
04:04The whole of...
04:05Yeah.
04:06Well, I certainly remember Tony Iommi came over here.
04:09Sure.
04:10And there were a few others.
04:12Yeah, Robert Plant came.
04:14Memories going.
04:15But, yes.
04:16Yeah, yeah.
04:17It brought people to the town.
04:18We had Radio 1 DJs.
04:19And they would all meet here first.
04:21And then go and do the venues across the road.
04:23Now, so what was the venue over the road?
04:25The village?
04:26The village.
04:27Was that like a club then?
04:28Yeah, it was a nightclub.
04:29And they would do live stage.
04:30They had some great bands on.
04:31Yeah.
04:32From the dam to everybody going back then.
04:34It was good fun.
04:35Yeah, did not realise that.
04:36Yeah.
04:37So, what are your memories of Ozzy then?
04:39Was he friendly?
04:40Was he chatty?
04:41Yeah.
04:42He was a funny, nice guy.
04:45Yeah.
04:46His wife, we spent more time.
04:50It was quite a female bar, this.
04:52Yeah.
04:53Because there were all women that worked bar.
04:56One guy, Phil, that used to work here.
04:58And Eddie Amelia, the doorman.
05:00Yeah.
05:01But the rest of us were all female and we just had quite a nice little group.
05:06And then there was the manageress and her boyfriend and Ozzy.
05:10And they would come in and sit at the bar and make jokes.
05:14Do you remember what he used to drink when he was here?
05:15Was he a whiskey man?
05:16Was he a beer man?
05:17I remember one night we all made Harvey Wallbangers and tequila sunrises sitting at the bar.
05:29And zombies.
05:30And zombies.
05:31And zombies.
05:32Was he well behaved?
05:33You never had to kind of, you know, smack his butt and say, pack it in.
05:37No, he was a family man.
05:38Yeah, he was nice.
05:40The family were lovely.
05:44Yeah.
05:45As a family.
05:46But yeah, he had a drinking problem.
05:48Yeah, yeah.
05:49And it did affect a lot of what he did in those days.
05:53But I think he was as famous as he became after he left here at that stage.
05:59But I can remember we all had to wear Blizzard of Oz T-shirts.
06:06Not T-shirts, sweatshirts, we were all given one.
06:10Or was it Diary of a Madden?
06:12Both of them, I think.
06:13Yeah.
06:14They just came out about that time.
06:15But we all had to wear our black sweatshirts with the album cover on.
06:17Ah, okay.
06:18And as a uniform.
06:19Well, here's the million dollar question.
06:22Do you like Black Sabbath music?
06:24I do now.
06:25I didn't bet.
06:26I remember him asking, do we all want to go to the Monsters of Rock?
06:29We'll get a bus and everybody can go over for the event.
06:33And most of us said no.
06:35Yeah.
06:36I know where you come from.
06:37I would go in a heartbeat.
06:38Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:39Of course, in those days.
06:40Or then.
06:41But I guess I just didn't really realise what it would become.
06:45Yeah.
06:46And it's nice that, you know, it's kept that legacy with the name still.
06:50That lovely little story for the town.
06:52Yeah, it was my first job out of college.
06:55I worked at the Newport Advertiser across the road and I came here at night and worked in
07:00the wine bar.
07:01It gave me a social life and let me get to know everybody.
07:04Yeah.
07:05In the town.
07:06Work in the kitchen doing the food.
07:08And taught me a lot about cooking.
07:10They took me from art college.
07:12Thelma let me do a sandwich board that we lay out on the street.
07:16They just gave you chances.
07:18Yeah, to try stuff.
07:20Yeah.
07:21That most people wouldn't even think about.
07:24But they seem to have that as quite an ethos.
07:27Yeah.
07:28Give me a break.
07:29It was a nice job to have.
07:30And so when you heard the news then, a pinch of sadness.
07:33Yeah.
07:34Yeah.
07:35It is a shame, isn't it?
07:36It's 45 years ago and a long, long time down the road.
07:41It's just, you remember you used.
07:43Yeah, definitely.
07:44With fondness that maybe wasn't always there because it was work and it was late nights
07:49and whatever.
07:50But yeah, most fond.
07:53Did that programme change from 81?
07:56Yeah.
07:57Where was this gig?
07:58I think it was in Aston at Villa Park.
08:01And the chap, someone donated this to you to display in the pub?
08:04Yeah, a customer, yeah.
08:06And you were saying that Ozzy actually gave him the ticket?
08:08Yeah, he actually gave him the ticket, yeah.
08:10How did that come about then?
08:12Because Ozzy owned the place in 81.
08:15Yeah, yeah.
08:16They drank here and knew him from the town.
08:17Ah, yeah, yeah, of course.
08:18That's how he gave out tickets in here.
08:20No way.
08:21To the regular customers.
08:22Awesome.
08:23Yeah.
08:26James, what a lovely tribute there.
08:27We've got Ozzy on the bog.
08:28Why not?
08:29Why not?
08:30I mean, if we've got Ozzy, we might as well chuck Gazza into the mix.
08:33And then we might as well chuck the Queen into the mix as well.
