Dog & Gun, Enderby, Leicestershire

The South Leicestershire village of Enderby is an old stomping ground of mine from the days when I lived in nearby Littlethorpe. Within easy walking distance of home, the village had just the right number of pubs for an afternoon pub crawl, some of which were very good pubs indeed. Sadly, and in common with most parts of this country, Enderby has lost a few of its more traditional pubs in recent years.The ultra-traditional Havelock Arms was the first...

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A Suffolk Quoits Board

The county of Suffolk has a long association with Quoits, a game which seems to have been played just about everywhere in Britain until the latter half of the 20th Century. Even a casual examination of the records of pubs and clubs will often reveal evidence of league or cup Quoits competition, indeed the game was played throughout my own home county of Northamptonshire. A good example of a Northamptonshire Team, proudly displaying their winners...

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Engineers Arms, Henlow, Bedfordshire

The Engineers Arms has such a good reputation for its beer and cider that it was judged a finalist in CAMRA's national Pub of the Year awards in 2012. A regular entry in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide, the pub also plays host to annual beer and cider festivals. It's also a friendly, welcoming, and thriving community pub, buzzing with locals when I visited, and if all that were not enough, it's a bit of a treasure trove for the pub games enthusiast.The games...

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A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Pt.15

The area around the Warwickshire town of Rugby is another outpost for the game of Table Skittles, though existing tables are few and far between in the town itself. The Alexandra has one of the last remaining tables in the town centre, quite a vintage W T Blacks model from the look of the turned legs and the fragments of two plastic labels which can still be seen pinned to them.The Pins and Cheeses are the yellow plastic variety favoured in the adjacent...

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Nine Men's Morris

My own Nine Men's Morris Board, pictured at The Castle Inn, Castle Bytham, Lincolnshire, a cosy and welcoming village pub where Pool, Darts, and Dominoes are available to play.Even before we explore a little of the history of Nine Men's Morris (also known as Merrels), it's simplicity of form clearly marks it out as a game of great age. Believed to date back to Roman times at least, Merrels seems to have been a game of common folk, often played...

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Lilacs Inn, Isham, Northamptonshire

The Northamptonshire village of Isham falls within the bounds of the Wellingborough & District Skittles League. The Lilacs Inn field a team in the league, playing their home matches on this fine old table, probably a W T Blacks model judging by the appearance.Until recently the pub had two Pool Tables in the large games/function room, with four teams active in local league play. This is a good indication of how popular the game of Pool has been...

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Pub Games in Newark

The Nottinghamshire town of Newark plays host to several traditional pub games, though sadly not all are thriving to the degree they once were.The area noted for the Notts/Derby version of Long Alley Skittles extends at least as far as Newark and possibly into Lincolnshire, with several pubs competing in the Newark & District Long Alley Skittles League. This version of Long Alley is predominantly a Summer game with many of the alleys located...

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