Remembering the time Hercules the Bear opened a pub lounge in Wishaw

Nearly 45 years ago a pub in Wishaw had an unusual idea for an advertising campaign for the opening of their new lounge area - they would invite a bear to open the bar.

Not your usual bear you’d find in a Wishaw pub, this was a real furry grizzly old thing. At the time of the pub lounge opening he was only 5 years old, but the 80s were a different time and we’re sure the North Lanarkshire licensing board were happy to look the other way.

Hercules the Bear was a trained grizzly bear, standing at 9 foot tall and weighing 60 stone, he was the pet of professional wrestler Andy Robin who bought him as a cub in the summer of 1975 from the Highland Wildlife Park for £50.

Andy trained Hercules from cub-hood in the art of wrestling and brought him up as any Scot would - on a diet of cooked meat, baked beans and fizzy juice, and apparently the occasional lager given how many pubs Andy and the bear would attend.

At the time of the pub opening, Hercules was on the cusp of worldwide fame. Prior to 1980 Hercules had only accompanied Andy on the wrestling circuit (where he was trained to play fight) and to the occasional local event.

It was June 4th 1980 when Hercules would make his way to Girdwoods Bar in Wishaw to celebrate the opening of the new Kestrel Lounge in the pub. At the time the pub was really popular was ‘moshers’ and ‘long-hairs’ - so one can only imagine how the proto-goths reacted to half a ton of bear behind the bar.

Just a few months later, in August of 1980, while shooting a Kleenex commercial in the Hebrides - Hercules had decided he couldn’t deal with the incumbent fame and fled to the wild. He didn’t last long out there, about 24 days. While out in the wild he hadn’t eaten a thing - not a sheep, a deer or even a cow - having got used to diet of cooked food and pub snacks, and there was no pork scratchings to be found in the highland woodlands.

Andy managed to get Hercules back home, and his adventures up north had made international news. Now the bookings wouldn’t stop coming in.

He featured on the cover of Time magazine, caddied for US comedian Bob Hope at Gleneagles, received a telegram from US President Ronald Reagan (it’s unclear if he ever responded), and promoted the Miss World contest amidst countless other TV and film cameos.

His biggest role was a feature on the James Bond film Octopussy in 1983 but he was a regular feature on the telly, particularly on children’s programmes and Hollywood chat shows. Not bad for a bear that was kicking about a Wishaw pub just a few years previous.

Hercules went on to live a long and fulfilling life for a bear, living to the ripe old age of 25 in 2001. Andy Robin would live until he was 84, passing away in December of 2019.