'My future wife reckoned I looked like a famous footballer'

And it was ‘here mate, has anyone ever told you that you look like Alan Shearer.’

From Annabels to Finos

Bob worked in some of Sunderland’s best known nightspots back in the days - from Annabels to Finos.

He shared those memories with our Wearside Echoes podcast - and told how it even led to him meeting his future wife.

‘I was working as a doorman at Annabels in Sunderland. I was the one on the step who had the say on who came in.

‘I worked at Annabels for about 13 years.’

‘I was an Alan Shearer lookalike. I’ve havent got his legs or his money!’

Bob also remembered working at Digby’s which was a pub downstairs. He said: “It was quite difficult if you had any trouble. You had to drag the people up the stairs which was quite hard.”

Other jobs at famous Sunderland venues followed including at Idols and a stint at the famous Fino’s. ‘I was there for a lot of years and that is where I met my wife,’ said Bob.

‘Apparently at the time, and this will be 25 years ago, I was an Alan Shearer lookalike. I’ve havent got his legs or his money!

‘My mate fancies you. Here we are 25 years later’

“Half a dozen people a night would come into the club and say ‘has anybody ever said to you’. I would say ‘yeah I know, I look like Alan Shearer’ and I got that all the time.”

Bob remembered that his wife ‘had a bit of a crush on Alan Shearer and one of her friends had said there’s a doorman who works at Fino’s who looks like him.

“She started coming in and I started getting my backside pinched! Then her friend would say ‘my mate fancies you.’

“Here we are 25 years on.”

Milk round, pit worker and photographer

Bob has had a hugely varied life from working on a milk round when he was 14, working at the pit, and later becoming an award-winning national photographer.

But if you want to hear more about that, you will have to catch the next episode of the Wearside Echoes podcast.

It will be out on Tuesday, July 1 and is the last in series 2 of the podcast.

Wearside Echoes series 2 is available on all major podcasts platforms and we are delighted to have had Mobility Care Solutions on board as our backers.

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