The last time I had a bevvy with Spencer McCarthy, he took about 50 mates, relations and hacks to the Cartier International polo match and spent thousands on crates of champagne.

I decide to bring Spencer and his colleagues down to my level, so the chosen venue is The Ring, a boozer that celebrates the best boxers to have come out of London. The walls are adorned with autographed pictures of the likes of Lloyd Honeyghan and 鈥橢nry Cooper.

Sure enough, a fight breaks out the second we arrive. The barman chucks out an old schemer who is trying to claim that he鈥檚 been fiddled out of his change of a tenner 鈥� he had handed over only a fiver.

Spencer is keen to point out that he鈥檚 a bit of a tough nut himself, having been knocked unconscious after falling off a polo horse polo last year.

鈥淚 woke up in the ambulance and this guy said, 鈥榊ou were playing polo鈥�. I said I didn鈥檛 play polo.

I looked at my son and said, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know this boy鈥�.鈥�

Andrew says something similar happened to him playing rugby.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 remember coming off the pitch, showering. First I knew, I was sitting in the changing rooms.鈥�

Spencer, who has been drinking sparkling mineral water, suddenly bolts up and announces: 鈥淚鈥檓 going to the loo, I鈥檝e drunk four litres of water today.鈥�

鈥淥ooo, how鈥檚 your diet going?鈥� asks Karen.

The unsurprising answer is that the diet 鈥� 500 calories a day and lots of water 鈥� is not going too well, as this snippet of conversation demonstrates 鈥�

黑洞社区: 鈥淕o on, have a proper drink.鈥�

Spencer: 鈥淣ah, better not.鈥�

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to, it鈥檚 like the law.鈥�

鈥淕o on then, I鈥檒l have a Magners.鈥�

I ask after Spencer鈥檚 father, John, who co-founded McCarthy & Stone. He is a director at Churchill, but it seems he has bigger fish to fry at the moment. Ian points out that he鈥檚 only seen John once in the past year and Andy laughs: 鈥淵eah, golf day. Actually, a mate of mine runs a shoot in the West Country and sees him quite often.鈥�

Shooting, you say? 鈥淵eah, he does big-game shooting. Elephants,鈥� says Spencer.

And where does one shoot elephants? 鈥淭he zoo?鈥� offers Ian.

Spencer clarifies: 鈥淗e鈥檚 going to Zimbabwe to shoot rogue elephants.鈥�

鈥淩ogue鈥� elephants? 鈥淵eah, some parts of Zimbabwe are overrun by them. You pay to shoot them and the villages get the money for it.鈥�

鈥淎t least they鈥檙e not pink elephants,鈥� adds Andrew.

When the conversation turns to rogue versus pink elephants, it seems the right moment to call time.

Spencer McCarthy, chairman and group managing director
Andy Barrett, regional managing director, Midlands
Ian Byers, regional managing director, South-east
Andrew Burgess, managing director, planning
Karen Richards, PR consultant, Craven Group
Mark Leftly, 黑洞社区

Chosen watering hole: The Ring, Southwark, central
London Ambience: A tear-up is only seconds away 
Subjects: Polo, diets and killing elephants 
Drinks bought: Two London Prides, two Heinekens, two Hoegaardens, two gin and tonics, one Leffe, three Magners, one sparkling water

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