Ged Crooks: Full of fun, no holds barred

The entrepreneur bought the Carlisle club in 1989 and reaped the rewards for more than a decade, selling it when its popularity had peaked.

Mr Crooks, who has died aged 77, had a knack for knowing when the time is right to buy and sell.

During the 1990s, Saturday nights would see 4,500 clubbers out in Carlisle, with about one third of them spending time in Buskers on Lonsdale Street.

He bought the Cumbrian Hotel (now the Hallmark Hotel) in 2000, refurbished it and renamed it the Lakes Court, then sold it just before the credit crunch.

He owned the former Cassa bar on Botchergate and the current Panchos restaurant in Court Square as well as a string of other properties.

One of his favourite places was his second home in Puerto Banus in Spain.

He spent a lot of time there relaxing and enjoying the sunshine.

Norman Forrester, who owns Dempsey’s on Warwick Road, was one of Mr Crooks’s best friends.

He said: “Ged was king of the Carlisle nightclubs.

“We used to laugh at the queue to get into Buskers.

“It would snake round the block – often as far as Chaplins (Ruen Thai) and people would stand in the rain to get in.

“Of course it was in the days when bars closed at 11pm.

Mr Forrester once went to Puerto Banus 12 times in a year with Mr Crooks.

He said: “He was spontaneous. We’d be sitting in Buskers on a night and we’d just decide to go to Spain.

“There would be no planning we’d just get the train to London and then jump on a plane.”

Mr Forrester used to meet Mr Crooks every day and had spent a great deal of time with him in the last few weeks.

“I used to pop across to Pancho’s for a coffee every day,” he said.

“I’d been with Ged for the last three weeks. He wasn’t too well, having had problems with his kidneys and liver, among other things.

“He will be a big miss. He was full of fun. He was Ged, no holds barred.”

Friends say if they ever wanted to find Mr Crooks then they looked no further than Pancho’s. It was here that the nightlife king “held court” with his friends at his weekly coffee club.

Carol Milnes, who used to work for Mr Crooks, said: “If I ever wanted to find Ged then I knew I’d get him there on a Friday morning.”

Kenny Hogg, owner of Fantails restaurant in Wetheral, said: “Ged would hold court at his coffee club.

“People from all walks and talks of life would drop in – so many different people would go and see him.

“Ged was a good customer of mine. He used to fetch his work parties to Fantails. He was a big supporter of my restaurant.

“He was a larger than life character who lived life to the full.

“He was a businessman and a private man who had good family and friends around him.”

Paul Fontana, who owns Paolo’s takeaway in Denton Holme, said: “I’d known Ged for more than 20 years.

“He loved a party.

“There was a bunch of us who, two or three times a year, used to catch a train up to Glasgow. Ged used to like to go to the Italian quarter. It’s where he bought all his suits.

“He was a great bloke.”

Friends say Mr Crooks didn’t talk much about his personal health.

Mr Fontana said: “He had an illness in Spain a couple of years ago and he slowly went downhill.

“He was a lovely man, a very friendly and a very strong person too – that went through his private and his business life.”

Julie Brown, owner of the Deja Vu bar on Botchergate and Molly’s bar in Lowther Arcade, said: “Such sad sad news. A true gentleman in every respect.

“There was always a smile and a wave from Ged.

“A man that took time to ask how you were and how things were going. He was very genuine.”

Ms Milnes recalled the time Katie Price (Jordan) came to the Lakes Court Hotel.

“I had them sitting together,” she said.

“He was the first entrepreneur on the nightlife scene and he saw a gap that no one else saw which was a great attribute to him.

“He was kind and generous but people didn’t often see that side of him.

“He was a genuinely nice man. We’ve lost another great ambassador and he will be missed.

“It’s so sad that he’s gone. He lived with his partner Julie and he thought the world of her.”

Mr Crooks grew up on Currock Park Avenue with his parents Ella and Joe. He went to Robert Ferguson School but left school at 14 to work on farms for 11 years, the first at Hutton-in-the-Forest. He then moved into chicken farming and invested in an old van when he was laid off.

From the van, he sold chicken portions and cracked eggs to local Chinese restaurants, bakers and pubs.

He then set up coin-operated car washes around Cumbria and further afield before working as a doorman at The Pheasant on Caldewgate and the Game Bird club above it.

He suffered a terrifying ordeal at his home in December 1997 when four masked men burst into his home, tied him up, sprayed him with CS gas, hit him with a cosh and shoved the barrel of a gun in his mouth.

Mr Crooks leaves his partner Julie and his five children, Emma, Steven, Robbie, Stuart and Thomas.