The Hurdler, Stamford

The Hurdler is set a little way out from the town centre of Stamford. A classic community pub, open plan with a central bar, but probably multi-roomed when originally built. It would have been built to serve the needs of the post war housing which surrounds it, and like most pubs which are firmly embedded in their communities, The Hurdler is a games pub through and through. Darts, Crib, and Pool are the principal league games played here, but the pub also has a team in Stamfords unique Pushpenny League.

The league is currently running with just six pubs/clubs, which is a parlous state for any pub game to be in. Let's hope the pubs of Stamford can keep this game going where others have sadly fallen by the wayside.


Two Pushpenny Boards. The nearest is in regular use, made from a single piece of Mahogany, and with a beautifully polished surface. The other board is a little more workmanlike, and is in fact the reverse surface of a Shove Ha'penny Board (see below).



The sloping run-off at the rear of this Pushpenny board can be seen here, and is a feature which is typical of these boards, and yet rarely if ever seen on the more common Shove Ha'penny board.



As far as I can tell, this Shove Ha'penny is a commercial board, of a type which would have been quite common in its time. As shown above, the reverse side has been adapted for Pushpenny, the curved stop bar acting as the brace when used on a table top. How much use the Shove Ha'penny gets at The Hurdler is not clear.

Trophies and the all important fixtures board. This is one of several in the pub, and features the fixture lists for the Crib, and Stamford Pushpenny Leagues.