87-year-old 'ambassador' of Brit's Pub is Minneapolis legend

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - There's a pub host in Minneapolis who is a legend on the city's bar scene. In fact, there's a good chance you already know who we're talking about. 87-year old Freddie Manton is known as the "ambassador" of Brit's Pub. Regular Jory Zumich says, "If you know Brit's you know Freddie."

Freddie has been at Brit's since day one.

"I found my little niche and got to know so many people that it kind of blossomed from there," Freddie said.

He landed in Minnesota thanks to an old friend from the United Kingdom.

"He called me up and said ‘Hey come to Minneapolis and get involved in the pub that's going to be opening shortly’," Freddie said. 

That was 25 years ago. Since then, Freddie has been Brit's jack of all trades. He's done everything from managing the pub to manning the front door.

But, there is one thing Freddie is best known for - his charming one-liners that never get old.

"So I moved up here that was in 1990 and I've been stranded here waiting for you to make an appearance," Freddie told Fox 9 anchor Amy Hockert when she arrived to interview him.  And not 10 minutes later as the Fox 9 crew was leaving, they passed Freddie chatting with a couple ladies. They overheard him saying, "I've been stranded here ever since, waiting for you two to make an appearance."

"I think it's just the friendliness and chirpiness of this old cockney geezer in downtown Minneapolis," Shane Higgins, Brit's general manager, says. "Immediately people take him to their hearts you know and they love to be around him and love to say they know him."

But, there is much more to Freddie than what meets you at the door. As if being an 87-year old pub host was not cool enough, Freddie has another gig in the back room of Brit's: rock star.

"I was 15, 16 at the time. Set up the drums and started banging around and never really recovered from that mess," Freddie says. 

Yes, here he is, pushing 90, still banging around with a motley crew of mates. A self-proclaimed geezer who says he feels like a kid again. "I feel great. I feel great. Sometimes I feel like I'm 84."

Freddie has no plans to call it quits anytime soon.

"As long as [Brit's] can put up with me, that's about the extent of me being around," Freddie says. "Until they say he let's get rid of that old dude."

After all, age is just a number as they say, and around here, no one's counting.

"He's a great guy and a Brit's staple that's for sure," Jory Zumich, a Brit's patron, said.

Niki Dalseic, a Brit's employee, said, "And if you don't know him you will know him by the time you leave."