Tributes to popular Corby pub landlady


"The Corby Candle was her domain and if she had something to say she would always say it"
Liz Campbell

Published Date:
15 January 2009
By Richard Marsden
Corby reporter

Tributes have been paid to a popular landlady who was at the helm of a landmark Corby pub for 30 years.
Irene Anderson, 61, who owned the Corby Candle with husband Bill , died on January 9 after suffering from motor neurone disease for seven months.


Mrs Anderson, of Stanion Lane, Corby, was well-known and established the pub's restaurant where her speciality was steak pie.

Daughter Anne, 37, said: "She was good to the staff. She always took them out for a Christmas night out.

"A lot of people knew she had been poorly and my dad's had so many cards. People have been lovely."

Husband Bill, 65, said: "The diagnosis of her illness was late. She was quite poorly before then."

And speaking about the pub, he said: "We used to get all sorts of people – the good, the bad and the indifferent. Irene was very well thought of."

Mrs Anderson moved to the town from Scotland and met Bill, 65, who was employed in the steelworks.

They took over at the Candle in the 1970s, retiring in the summer of 2003.

Tributes have been paid by regulars at the pub and by bar staff who were trained by Mrs Anderson.

A regular for more than 30 years, Brian Brown, 60, said: "Irene and Bill were good to me. They wouldn't stand for any nonsense. The pub was a popular place when they ran it. There were some great nights."

Present landlady Helen Campbell, said: "Irene was a brilliant boss. She taught me how to be a barmaid."

Her sister, Liz Campbell, a waitress, said: "She was a good boss. The Corby Candle was her domain and if she had something to say she would always say it."

Mrs Anderson's funeral will be held at Kettering Crematorium on Tuesday at 1.30pm.

The pub in New Post Office Square is named after the Corby Candle, a huge chimney at the former steelworks which could be seen from miles around in the plant's heyday.

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