A Welsh Telephone Box & English Pub in Eastern Croatia

Croatia is a land of stories - meet one of the more unusual ones, a British corner of eastern Croatia in the latest from the Fat Vlogger.
What is the most random thing you have seen in your time in Croatia?
On my first visit to Vinkovci a few years ago, claimed as the oldest continuously inhabited town in Europe, stood something totally bizarre.
A red British telephone box.
How the hell did it get there, and why?
And so began a rather fascinating journey and one of the most unusual stories of my time in Croatia.
Which featured a very contented Yorkshireman from Leeds, who had been living in Vinkovci for over 30 years after coming to volunteer during the war in 1991.
To find out why there is a Welsh telephone box in the middle of Vinkovci and an English pub in a field in the middle of nowhere in eastern Croatia, check out the latest from the Fat Vlogger. Premiering at 19:53 tonight.
You can watch the full podcast with Steve Gaunt on the Total Croatia News KZbin channel - • TCN Podcast: Steve Gau...
You can check out The White Boar Facebook page - / whiteboarcroatia
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Like our videos and want to see more? Be part of the story by buying me a coffee or something stronger ko-fi.com/paulbradbury
Want to learn more about the realities of living in this flawed but majestic country? Our new book, Croatia, a Survival Guide for Foreigners is now available on Amazon. www.amazon.com/Croatia-Surviv...
Video produced by Igor Vuk of Wolf Media.
For your daily dose of Croatia, check out www.total-croatia-news.com
Follow Paul Bradbury on LinkedIn - / paul-bradbury-58662a85

[@utherlightbringer3868]

Wanna say as Croatian i salute, Bow and Thank him bc he didnt have anything with our war of independence and he stil went to it, especially with history of political view of UK towards Croatia.. Once again tyvm

[@PaulBradbury]

I am sure Steve will read these comments, but I completely agree with you.

[@MK-ln6nb]

I had no idea! I wish I'd known when I was there on holiday several years ago. I bet there are a lot of Croatians there and ex pats who don't know about Steve and his pub or his heroism. I'm eternally grateful to him, thank you and I hope Croatians all over the world hear this story.

[@PaulBradbury]

For sure. I only heard about him about 4 years ago.

[@alexs3119]

Legend.......nothing less than legend........may God bless him.

[@PaulBradbury]

Agreed

[@fritula6200]

This story is so fascinating, what made this man want to go into a war that had no relevance to him: l find this man's story worth a novel: he should write: As a Croatian l would want to visit him and thank him for his bravery, maybe there is a different word l should use, not bravery, but "love" of humanity! I thank you sir, for coming to fight for my freedom! May God bless you and yr family!

[@PaulBradbury]

There is a link to a podcast with Steve in his pub in the first comment

[@domagojmackovic430]

I heard about this phone box, but not the full story as to who and why, thank you Mr. Gount for being there when help was needed, and thank you Mr. Paul for posting the full story. There was so many foreign volunteers coming to fight the war that wasn't their war to fight, but still were here and putting their lives on the line. I do sometimes wonder how much we gave back to them as a nation, even now when most of them are quite older.

[@PaulBradbury]

Not great actually - at least in this sad case www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/40993-nigs-balchin

[@dinohaber7710]

Thanks Paul. Never heard of the pub nor the phonebox before.

[@PaulBradbury]

No prob - lots more coming if you want to subscribe.

[@Iceman5798]

Great story and thx to all volunteers

[@PaulBradbury]

It really is.

[@19djuro]

Never knew that there was an authentic english pub 20 km from me. Well ,need to check it out.

[@PaulBradbury]

Here is the FB page - contact before to make sure Steve will be there web.facebook.com/whiteboarcroatia

[@elnino1243]

Thank you for your service!!

[@PaulBradbury]

I will pass that on

[@alenq21]

What a fascinating story! Thank you for sharing this. I now have two more things to do on my Visit Slavonia to do list... :)

[@PaulBradbury]

A few more ideas here www.total-croatia-news.com/editorial/58263-slavonia-full-of-life

[@bojankavazovic]

Thanks for another great video. Added The White Boar to my 2do list for the next time I’m in the region.

[@PaulBradbury]

Check they are open before you go web.facebook.com/whiteboarcroatia

[@josmith2315]

Brilliant !!! I was in Mala Bosna.. (1992). I know Steve by sight,

[@croatianmaster8178]

Hvala za slobodu Steve !

[@mariapardo4860]

Thank you! Fascinating history and extraordinary personage I would like to visit him

[@PaulBradbury]

One of the many gems in eastern Croatia

[@Mis-AdventureCH]

Welcome to Steve's world. We were mates back in the war days. Great guy.

[@PaulBradbury]

Time to come back and have a pint with him. He is still thirsty

[@Mis-AdventureCH]

@@PaulBradbury He never won't be. 🤣🤣

[@MrDurin]

Wonderful story. Unbelievable that an Englishman would live in rural parts of Syrmia, but on the other hand, quiet life in nature has its charms. It is more unbelievable that another Englishman would discover him in the middle of nowhere. 😂

[@PaulBradbury]

There are actually quite a few foreigners living very happily in the east.

[@riobabic8960]

Tell your friend Steve Gaunt Rio Babic says thanks for everything he did during the war in Croatia. I’m sure my late father would like to have shook his hand. My father’s brother’s family live in Osijek since the 1960s. My next trip to Osijek I will definitely visit his pub in Vinkovci !

[@PaulBradbury]

You can tell him yourself via the pub Facebook page - let him know when you plan to come to make sure he will be there web.facebook.com/whiteboarcroatia

[@powderskier5547]

I will for sure drop in at the White Boar next year, want to have a beer with Steve.

[@PaulBradbury]

Here is the FB page - contact before to make sure Steve will be there web.facebook.com/whiteboarcroatia

[@tomislavsekerija1957TN]

Amazing guy, he's also more Croat than many of natives for me.

[@PaulBradbury]

Agreed

[@davorfisic9626]

Paul you are a blessing from God to Croats, that they may discover the beauty they do not see and learn more about others and themselves, you are in Croatia for a purpose so that we can learn and see thru the eyes of one that sees something that we do not; so that we become less blind. Croats need more Pauls to humble us and teach us and Pauls need Croats to teach them what Pauls do not know, you told us wonderful story about Steve and it wasn't easy for him in my homeland, but even if it cost him a lot in the war; he didn't flinch and stayed loyal to his convictions and warriors like him merit more attention for their sacrifice from my people, so many Croats have no idea how many foreigners came to Croatia during the war and lost their life there, Steve was among the few that kept his head above his shoulders and thanks God for that, how many foreigners died and almost no one remembers them today or is thankful for their sacrifice, it saddens me as a Croat to see that situation today that our freedom was paid by the river of blood of Croats and good foreigners that couldn't see other suffering and killed without doing nothing. Today I salute and thank all foreigners that came and fought for the freedom of Croatia and I am proud to call them my brothers and Coats because my brother is not the one that lives on the same land as I, my brother is the one who comes to my rescue when I need help and many came before even I asked because they saw that we needed help. Thank you my Croat brothers all around the world who didn't leave me alone when I needed them, and thank you Paul for your great service of education to the people of Croatia. Paul do not consider yourself less Croat than others because you are Croat more than the majority of them, you are a blessing and gift of God to Croatia and it's people, HVALA TI HRVATINO MOJA. POVRATIO SI MI SJECANJA I DIRNUO SRCE MOJE SA OVOIM VIDEOM DA SAM SE RASPLAKAO

[@PaulBradbury]

Haha thanks but I think your words should be directed to Steve.

[@davorfisic9626]

@@PaulBradbury do not underestimate your calling; you have your war and destiny and others have theirs, if you are impressed by others, others can be also impressed by you, if I'm thankful to you and Steeve and other warriors that came my gratitude stays to all; no matter what battlefield they are on, because this world is at war since it's creation in so many different ways and fronts. Sorry Paul , but I will not retract my gratitude to you as to others as well. So thank you once more.

[@kani9284]

I found out about the foreign volunteers that fought for Croatia a couple of years ago and was completely fascinated. They have a website that I couldn't find anymore unfortunately.

[@PaulBradbury]

You can learn more about Steve's story in our podcast from his pub kzbin.info/www/bejne/invHdniaq8map80

[@mladen7419future]

Well done...

[@maryannsegal2807]

Amazing story!

[@PaulBradbury]

It really is.

[@DarkoWRXSTI]

Super su mi ovi moji Hrvati koji pišu na engleskom jeziku. Pa čovjek vas sve razumije. Anyway Paul,it's a great story.

[@PaulBradbury]

Thanks - lots more coming if you want to subscribe.

[@DarkoWRXSTI]

@@PaulBradbury Paul i'm already subscribed

[@nakkiewildvangst2656]

Darko: That's for the foreign tourists that wish to visit HR 😏 some ppl read comments while listening, esp the younger demographics 😉

[@nakkiewildvangst2656]

Wow, what a story! Thank you for sharing it with us👏👏👏👏 A mystery why Steve and like him were not featured in a documentary!

[@PaulBradbury]

He has been featured in the Croatian media on occasion - kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmSpfH9_prOrsMk

[@PaulBradbury]

and this is his podcast with Total Croatia News - kzbin.info/www/bejne/invHdniaq8map80

[@PaulBradbury]

Link to the full podcast in The White Boar with Steve on Total Croatia News KZbin - kzbin.info/www/bejne/invHdniaq8map80

[@zagrepcanin82]

A mug of ale for me please!

[@PaulBradbury]

Just the one?

[@zagrepcanin82]

@@PaulBradbury well if bbq is involved then maybe more 🙈

[@abpast5319]

I dont think red telephone box picks eye in vinkovci until you realize its only english think since it looks vintige as the vikovci.

[@PaulBradbury]

Interesting - it really stood out for me. Perhaps a reminder of my younger days in the UK.

[@tiki915]

Whoever wants to thank s Paul for what he is doing, just subscribe ...he ll know and reply... you re welcome 👍👋

[@PaulBradbury]

Haha

[@ReVincentius]

I heard about this, and I salute to you too, dear Mr. Bradbury for paying a tribute to his story. God bless you and all of them! You are fixing our perception of the UK people. You know that most of us (to correct myself: most of the people that I know) see you only as masonic, pro-Yugoslavia country. And we hardly can make a difference between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland... I mean, we've all seen The Braveheart for 100 times, all versions of Agatha Christie s Belgian detective H. Poirot, Sherlock H., Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc. Those are my favourites. So I really hated to read about British officers at Bleiburg etc. So, thank you for a 100th time for your effort. In both ways. God bless!

[@PaulBradbury]

Haha, yes I have lost count of the times I have been told I am responsible for Bleiburg even though I was born 24 years later. There are good Brits and bad Brits, as elsewhere, but I know of several who put their lives on the line for Croatia when it mattered. Steve's full podcast (link in the first comment) is well worth a listen.

[@ReVincentius]

@@PaulBradbury Ofc! I'm not so good in grammar (and yes, I've watched your video about common mistakes) ;) and maybe I didn't emphasize how much I don't think that's the true. I know that people are all different (good, bad etc.) So, thank you again for all your effort. All of you foreigners, for learning croatian (adjectives - is it?) language. God bless.

[@cibalia2006]

Gosh Paul, I guess you are on for free beer...... again!

[@PaulBradbury]

Maybe a free whole pint this time, rather than just a sip?

[@stevegaunt-wm7gy]

@@PaulBradbury I will think about it.

[@HotRot89]

Are there German communities in Croatia?

[@PaulBradbury]

According to MUP, there are 6306 Germans with residence permits in Croatia. A lot are in Istria and dotted along the coast. am not aware of any actual communities. You could post on the Expat FB groups and ask, perhaps.

[@isuckatthisgame]

Many old houses in Slavonia are old German style construction. We also have many "Germanisms" in our language, such as šarafciger, paradajz, rikverc and so on and on...

[@dannyboy-vtc5741]

You literally have lots of german villages in slavonia around drava and sava rivers, the folksdeutchers, some were pure german before the ww2, some were mixed with croats and hungarians, lots of them were dispersed and repopulated after the ww2, but some stayed, a lot more stayed here in comparison to serbia for an instance, like i know for here around virovitica, there's a village called lukač, that was almost all germans, i know it because some families like huber or kopfer are related to me, likewise here in western slavonia there are also lots of czech villages too, but they are mostly situated between sava and dravw valley, more in the middle hilly part of slavonia. Many croatian greats, from music, literacy snd paintong, to science or engineering are of german or czech or some other origin, it was all the same country once upon a time afetr all, the thing is that all minorities here are well assimilated and while they are all proud of their origin and heritage, they all consider themselves croats first and their national minorities second, and it's not forced on them it's just how it is, well maybe not for servs, they consider themselves serbs first, or they don't consider themselves croats or croatian citizens at all, unless they need a passport or some protection from the gov, but having said that there were also serbs that were loyal to tge country even during the war, and ofc there are nationalists of our own that don't deserve to call themselves croats, but that'd another story, a story every nation has to some degree, but such things are less and less important with time fortunatelly.

[@chrisevans6270]

Sorry Paul, this story supporting the war in Yugoslavia is disgusting..I couldn't support the foreign mercenary nor his pub.

[@powderskier5547]

Well, it was a war for freedom and against communism, no one here supports war, but sometimes you need to fight for freedom. So I am guessing you don't support Ukraine's fight for freedom?

[@PaulBradbury]

Haha. Steve being a mercenary is about as likely as me being the MI6 Balkan chief. And which part of the video was supporting the war in Yugoslavia?

[@chrisevans6270]

@@powderskier5547 In what way were the people of Yugoslavia not free ?

[@chrisevans6270]

@@PaulBradbury No idea. You said he and buddies - not from Yugoslavia - went there to fight for the "Croatian" side . Which by the way not all people from Croatia supported. You have been there for a while - you know the difference between the Partisans and the Ustase. That goes back to the beginning of the country, somewhat ideological. Communists were our allies defeating the Nazis. In the 1990s , the winner is/was somewhat reversed. And no not all of us from Yugoslavia were happy about the destruction of the country into petty little nationalist states.

[@josipag2185]

​@@chrisevans6270 In a way that Slovenians and Croatians wanted to be in EU, and they were whole history pro-West oriented- Croats living for almost 800yrs euth Hungarians and Slovenians living with Czechs and Austrians, not to meantioned that Hungarian throne (and Croatian as they had the same king, after the death of Croatian and Hungarian royality, line Anjou of House Capet, of which is Borbons now, and Sigmund of Hungary was emperor of Holy Roman Empire), as it was an extension. In the first Yugoslavia, after Germans and Austrians lost (and Hungarians, Croats and Slovenians) nobody, but nobody asked them if they wanted Yugoslavia. As they, unlike Serbs, had no affiliation to Russia. And the partisans, and my family in Dalmatia, even of italian origin were partisans, they weren't for Yugoslavia, they were all Catholics, and they were fighting for freedom. Not for communism. You will find maybe one or two communists in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, or Slovenia, or Poland. Go figure why. Beacuse sooner or later, in communism people die of hunger. Because the communist are dictators who just wants everyone to be the same poor, the same retrograde, and for them as some sort of higher moral ground make that call. You can see, that eveb today Serbia can't decide if wants to join West. They have the same rebelion thing, and they celebrate Gavrilo Princip, the guy who deliberetly killed Franz Ferdinand, who did everything to stop the war between Austria and Serbia. And , as for Croats, they wanted like Slovenians live with Austrians (and Italians, for that matter, the only mayor of Split who actually made the city modern and perspective, and whose funeral was attended by all, I mean literally all the citizens dr.Antonio Bajamonti, consder himself italian) and to have perspective economy, and some autonomy. So, no, first Yugoslavia was made and nobodt asked Croats, or Slovenes, nobody asked Montenegrins (who reveled first after King's dictatorship). Ans second Yugoslavia was the only option after fasism in Italy and nazi Germany. But people, the partisans they were peasants whi have never read Marx. Actually, Karl Marx hated Croats, Czechs, Russians that nobody would have followed his idea if they had actually read what that crazy nazi wrote.

[@hybrydchumur]

Amazing people! Thank you. I’m sharing your work to all my friends and family.

[@PaulBradbury]

Great!

[@zdenkopecirep2812]

We need more people from GB in Croatia, I dont know why we like you so much . This is just another nice story, there is another one in WW 2 when we fight together against Germans, but now we like them too, in some way. Many of mine friends works , as veterinarians, in Ireland, or England and we are connected in Facebook, it seems that they are happy there. First love in my case was in 70 s, to Deep Purple, Whitesnake ..., If you ever travel to Bayern, one apartmant in my very big haus is free, so you are wellcome, realy. You are a very good man, cheers...

[@PaulBradbury]

Why thank you. I used to live in Munich - Bayern is a great place.

[@zdenkopecirep2812]

@@PaulBradbury You are welcome..

[@Cyricist001]

Fight against the Germans? They are our historical allies, only the communist wanted to fight them. As for the British, we have Bleiburg to remember their betrayal, we were promised that the Brits won't hand them over to the Partisans if we surender to them, and after surendering the Brits handed the fleeing civilians and Domobrani to the communists to be massacred. Hell, the English are related to the Germans and they stabed them in the back three times. There's a reason pnly the Portugese like the British and everyone else loath them.

[@33neptun]

Steve Gaunt is our Croatian LEGEND. We are very happy to have him here. Along with Raymond Van der Linden, and all other guys. I don't wanna forget somebody so i will not list their names here. They made a HUGE job for our country, especialy for bringing a feeling that we are not alone. Since entire EU was against our country and was OPENLY on serbian side. They even blocked us from defending ourselves with embargo of weapon importing, while serbs has ALL power on ex "yugoslav army" on their side. All of them are OUR GUYS. And ALL Croatians love them. They deserve a MONUMENT in Croatian capital, and they will get it. As soon as we get rid of the biggest traitor in Croatian history, anemic dezerter Plenkovič.

[@PaulBradbury]

A great guy

[@zorantalijan4515]

Wells futball team is one big joke,croatia will beat them 3-4 goals different

[@PaulBradbury]

How did it go?

[@zorantalijan4515]

@@PaulBradbury soryy 👍👍👍