YORK’S longest serving landlord has died from Covid, just weeks before he was due to celebrate 40 years in charge of his village pub.

Gordon Watkins, 71, and his former wife Lynn took over at the Ebor Inn in Bishopthorpe in March, 1981, and continued to run it ever since as Samuel Smith’s Brewery’s last tenant landlord.

He was named landlord of the year in The Press Pub Awards 2009/10 and received an award from The Campaign for Real Ale to mark his long service.

He was said to have launched York’s first pub quiz in the early 1980s and used to run a massive bonfire and fireworks display every November in the pub’s big beer garden.

In November 2000, he battled to save the bonfire after Bishopthorpe was badly flooded but eventually had to admit defeat.

Gordon also served as a parish councillor and helped found the Bishopthorpe Players, whose pantomime was held in the village each year.

On marking his 30th anniversary at the pub in 2011, he told The Press: “We have kept successive Archbishops refreshed after long days at the palace, raised more than £100,000 for good causes through events and kept the sparks flying for the village bonfire.”

His son Chris said yesterday that his father had had to go into hospital with a breathing condition three weeks ago.

He said he caught Covid-19 while he was in there, and had had little chance against the disease because of his lung condition and died on Saturday.

He said his father had spent his whole career in the pub trade, having run the Eston Hotel in Middlesbrough for five years before moving to Bishopthorpe, where he became a key part of the community.

“The pub was his life,” he said. “He always said that if your pub treated the community well, the community would treat your pub well.”

He said that when Gordon had arrived, the Ebor had had a ‘cabbage patch’ in the garden, and he had set about transforming it into the beautiful beer garden it was today, putting in play equipment as well as beer tables.

He said the pub would now become a managed house following his father’s death.

Gordon leaves his former wife Lynn, son Chris and daughter Sally, and three grandchildren Jackson, Billy and Elsa.

Chris said his funeral would be severely constrained because of Covid restrictions. “In normal times, everyone would have come back here afterwards,” he said.

However, he thought that the family might look to see if a celebration of Gordon’s life might be held at the racecourse later in the year, when the coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.