Revival?
Trev and his assistant Harry Crompton are dedicated to revitalizing the Pub Piano, a cherished entity of British culture. They are on a quest to preserve this tradition, and they will be sharing updates and important milestones on their journey.
Please scroll to the bottom if you want to see their journey from day one!
BBC Radio 2 July 2025
The latest result. Trev was on BBC Radio 2 as a guest with Jeremy Vine, one of the key presenters of UK radio. Here Trev does a call out session, and expresses his concern about pub piano dying. This was a great opportunity to send his message about Pub Piano across the nation.
ZDF July 2025
Here we have a result! Despite the over-dubbing in German it is still relatively easy to follow. This video marks the point where the quest to save the pub piano has gone truly international beyond the English speaking world. Onwards and upwards!
ZDF June 2025
Not long after the BBC Radio 4 interview, ZDF got in touch. ZDF is a German Broadcaster so in conjunction with BBC Radio 4, Trev and Harry’s unique story reached global attention. An interview was arranged with one of their mobile film crews where they interviewed Trev in The Bootlegers Bar in Exeter. Trev faced a barrage of questions, played a lot more pieces and went into more depth about the pub piano than any other organisation had ever asked for. According to the ZDF crew they found Trev The Pianoman on Radio 4 and intend to make a story of their own. What was pleasing was that after the interview, the team decided to stay for the whole gig!
BBC Radio 4 May 2025
Presumably because of the nation newspapers, Trev received an email from Harvey Stevens of Radio four asking for an interview. Trev replied enthusiastically and an interview was fixed up by phone. The interview actually took place in the afternoon and went out on the PM with Trev answering questions from the presenter Evan Davis. However the clip wasn’t just heard on radio four though as at 4am the following morning the show went out on the BBC World Service and then days later ABC in Australia, (the leading Austraiiian national radio station).
National Newspapers May 2025
Following a fantastic session at the Poltimore Arms with Will Dax who loved Trev and Harry’s story, his wonderful photographs and promotional film were taken back to the South West News Services headquarters, where after a few consultations one of Will’s colleagues Lauren Beavis a reporter got on board with the story as well. Consequently the report was refined yet again and Will, Lauren and the rest of the team at SWNS decided to run the story and made contact with as many papers and organisations as they could. As a result of this, the story hit the nationals and the tabloids here in the UK.
South West News Service March 2025
South West News Service is a reputable news agency focused on local stories and maintaining strong ties with national and international media. Recently, Trev received an email from a photographer named Will Dax, which initially left Trev and Harry puzzled about his identity. After some research, they arranged to meet him at the Poltimore Arms in Yarde Down. During this meeting, they conducted a photo and recording session, and he was so impressed by their story that he expressed a desire to take it to a national audience.
Express & Echo February 2025
After years of hard work, Trev and Harry successfully revived the pub piano leading to a renewed level of bookings. However numbers were still significantly lower than the heights achieved in late 2019 and early 2020. In their efforts to gain traction, they began creating business cards, embarking on many road trips to find more pianos, and conducting taster sessions, which gradually attracted more pubs to their cause. Encouraged by this momentum, Harry decided again to attempt a reconnection with the media, somewhat reminiscent of their past success with a BBC article six years earlier. This time, their story caught the attention of not just the Express & Echo, but also the Exmouth Journal and Exeter Today, each producing their own pieces about Trev and Harry’s quest.
Restart July 2021
In July 2021, the UK had been largely transitioned thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the impact of the crisis was significant, as around a quarter of pubs had permanently closed, and few had reopened due to changes in ownership. As a result, Trev and Harry found themselves pushed back to square one, facing the challenges of a transformed landscape in the pub industry meant that the quest to save the pub piano more or less had to start all over again.
Pandemic 2020
This growing success was stopped in it’s tracks almost overnight when the United Kingdom along with most of the world were put into lockdown. All of Trev’s performances were stopped and from a situation where Trev was performing most days suddenly there were no performances whatsoever. Amidst the pandemic, Trev chose to focus on expanding his repertoire from home. Practicing for hours each day his repertoire expanded from a library of around 3,000 pieces being eventually augmented to a new size of around 4,200. However when he returned to the scene, he faced significant challenges due to the colossal closure of so many pubs.
BBC Spotlight May 2019
After spending several years searching for pianos in the region, Harry decided to write an article highlighting Trev’s skills and offerings, as well as their recent endeavours. With some adjustments made by Trev, the article was submitted to the BBC. As a result of this exposure, Trev began receiving numerous bookings across the South West. Consequently, Trev found himself on the local BBC Spotlight news. On that same afternoon Trev also featured with his piano on BBC radio Devon with Ian Woodley in a one hour phone in request show.
Sometime in 2016
In 2016, Trev frequently performed at the Buccaneers Bar in Crediton. A friend of his children, Harry Crompton, initially offered to assist Trev in securing more gigs as a gesture of goodwill during his time of unemployment. However, as Harry became more involved, he developed a genuine appreciation for Trev’s music and the atmosphere created by the pub piano.