Crows Nest, Leicester

The Crows Nest is a relatively modern Everards Brewery pub, a short walk from the city centre on the Hinckley side of town. It's a pub firmly pitched at the family market, liberally decked out in Halloween livery when I visited, and a great all-rounder with regular live music and plenty of pub game action.Unusually, the Crows Nest offers the chance to compare a Northants Skittles Table with the rarer local Leicester variety, located as they are side...

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A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Pt.11

Wellingborough in Northamptonshire has a number of very good pubs for the beer enthusiast (see below), in all honesty, the Volunteer is currently not one of them. No real ale is on offer at the Volunteer, and yet this is still one of my favourite pubs in the town, and well worth a visit if like me you have a love of unpretentious, well-run locals pubs. From the outside there's little to draw your attention to this Victorian (?) street corner pub,...

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Restoring A Tired Old Shove Ha'penny

Even though the game of Shove Ha'penny is not nearly as popular as it once was, boards can still be bought new from various sources. At best these will be made from solid hardwood, usually Oak or Mahogany, possibly even hand made and very attractive. The cheapest available are usually made from particle board, laminated with hardwood. Perfectly serviceable for play, but often uninspiring to look at and more prone to irreversible damage, particularly...

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Cherry Tree, Leicester

The Cherry Tree is a pub I hadn't been in for around 30 years! It was never on our circuit of drinking pubs, even though we used nearby boozers such as The Salmon, and the Highcross Street duo of the Hat & Beaver and Red Lion quite regularly in those days. I think the only reason I went there at all was that it hosted the Merry Cherry Folk Club in a poky room upstairs. It may have been the M&B Brewery logo which put us off at the time, though...

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Snowshill Arms, Snowshill, Gloucestershire

Here's another fine old Donnington Brewery pub. Attractive and very typical Cotswold stone on the outside, cosy, welcoming, and unpretentious within.There's a Darts Board in the bar, and a light, airy Skittle Alley at the rear of the pub which is available for functions. No league appears to operate in this area of Gloucestershire, which is a shame as the alleys are very good and beautifully well maintained. An opening six at the Snowshill Arms....

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White Hart, Newbold-on-Stour, Warwickshire

The licensee of the White Hart at Newbold-on-Stour has made every effort to incorporate a range of traditional games into the pubs offering. The Aunt Sally 'Throw' to the side of the pub was originally laid as a Pétanque piste, but the game didn't find favour with the locals. When the nearby Bird in Hand pub was put up for sale, its future uncertain, the bright yellow Hook Norton backcloth of the 'local' game was moved across the road, where it...

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The Locomotive, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire

The market town of Wellingborough is located at the very heart of the Northamptonshire Skittles area, giving its name to a local league as well as being the former base for G.J Pepper, fabricator of many of the skittles tables still to be found in the area (including the one shown here at The Locomotive).In common with many similarly sized towns in Northamptonshire, the local game has now retreated to just a couple of pubs and perhaps just a single...

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The Black Horse, Aylestone, Leicester

The Black Horse was my own local for many years, back in the days of Formica table tops, harsh strip lighting, and outside toilets. It was also a time when it was still perfectly normal to visit your local most days of the week, Friday nights and Sunday lunchtimes being particularly busy.The pub has changed quite a bit since then, though still has a very traditional feel and retains the separate Bar, Lounge, and Snug layout of old. Only the tiny...

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