A pensioner has died in front of regulars at an Angus pub, after suddenly taking ill.
Jack Millar, who was 71, collapsed in the doorway of the Portcullis Bar in Arbroath on Thursday, as staff and friends tried to rush him to a doctors’ surgery.
Publican Lorraine Williams said she had called for advice the minute he came through the door, to order his daily cider.
She said: ”As soon as he came in I knew he just didn’t look right, so I phoned the doctor straight away to try and get him a home visit.
”We decided we should take him along the High Street to the surgery. He was a horrible colour and he had looked that way since Wednesday.
”Myself and my sister got him up on his feet and tried to get him out of the door with help from the regulars, but he just went down, so we lowered him down to the floor.
”He was not himself and was very vacant. We just knew that something wasn’t right.”
Lorraine said Mr Millar lived in the town’s Tarry Road, near his brother Glenn and his mother, who is a resident at Tarriebank Nursing Home.
Staff member Neil Fairweather helped make him comfortable during the incident, assisted by Lorraine’s sister Jackie Cameron and locals Dawn Newlands and Gavin Ritchie.
”He was very well liked,” Lorraine said. ”He would come in every day for a game of dominos. It was such a shock to see him like that. It was all very quick.”
Emergency services were called to the bar in Conon Terrace shortly after 3pm, but paramedics were unable to revive Mr Millar. Police confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.
Mr Millar’s brother Glenn (65) said: ”He looked unwell and he hadn’t been well for a couple of days, but we had seen him on Sunday.
”It has come as a real shock. We would like to say thank you to all the staff and regulars at the Portcullis for their help.”
Mr Millar worked at the town’s Northern Tool and Gear for more than 40 years, retiring at the age of 63. He was a member of the Arbroath Abbey Bowling Club.
The cause of his death is yet to be established.
In addition to his brother and sister-in-law, Elizabeth, Mr Millar is survived by his 94-year-old mother.
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