smallhobbit | Fandom 50 (1): Welcome to the Midnight Bell

The Midnight Bell is a dance production created by Sir Matthew Bourne, based on various novels by Patrick Hamilton. It has 10 characters, so my first ten entries will be highlighting each of them. I'm also using this to write drabbles for

small_fandoms drabblethon, which I shall include as part of my description.

The Midnight Bell is a public house in the Soho area of London in the early 1930s. It features in 20,000 Streets Under The Sky, which is a trilogy of stories, the first of which is called The Midnight Bell. The production brings in other Hamilton characters who never visit the pub, but who could quite possibly have done so.

Bob's story is told in The Midnight Bell.

Bob performed his tasks automatically, wiping down the bar counters, putting the chairs round the tables, going to help the publican move the beer casks down into the cellar. These were things he’d done every day since he’d started work in the Midnight Bell. He’d fancied a break from being a sailor, and now he’d met Jenny Maple he couldn’t imagine ever going back to sea. Jenny was the light of his life, and it didn’t matter that he was spending his savings on her, buying her presents, and helping towards her rent. One day he knew they would marry.