The Chestnut is a friendly and vibrant local, tucked away in a leafy residential area of Worcester. It's an interesting pub, run by an enthusiastic (and slightly eccentric) landlord. A recent addition to the bar is a full size Pine Pulpit, and afternoons can be spent browsing the extensive vinyl collection, with a record deck available to play whatever takes your fancy. This huge slate Shove Ha'penny was rescued from another pub and the landlord would love to see it get more use (though you may have to take your own half pennies). Alternatively, there's a Devil Amongst The Tailors for skittles fans.
There's a sign in the bar of the Rose & Crown in Oundle promising 'Darts and Dominoes Every Wednesday Night'. Sadly the rattle of Dominoes is no longer a weekly feature, but the Darts Board is still in situ and available to play.
Cribbage Boards, old and some not so old. The Pleasantime 'Once Around' Two Lane Cribbage Board on the left is American and from around the 1950's. It comes complete with a lovely set of wooden pegs, and a folded sheet giving the Basic Rules of Cribbage. The Crown and Anchor board has the look and simple charm of a homemade affair. The holes are huge for a crib board, and the pub name has been simply added using a letter punch of the type commonly used to mark woodworking tools.
Another well maintained, clean and tidy, yet cosy and full of character back-street village local. The Railway Inn at Ketton, Rutland, bucks the trend for upmarket, food driven, and largely characterless pubs which are becoming all too common in my experience, particularly in rural areas. I've lost count of the number of times a historic pub exterior merely dresses up a bland, stripped out interior. All blond wood laminate flooring and late 20th century brown leather sofas, more Swedish furniture store than traditional British pub in character. Thankfully, there are still pubs like the Railway, which along with the village shop is the true hub of the community. It's quite small within, which presumably accounts for being a drinkers pub rather than one noted for food. Despite its diminutive size, league Pool, Darts, Cribbage and Dominoes are all played at the Railway. Quite an achievement for a pub of any size these days.
Silver Medals like the one shown below were once quite a common reward for success in league and cup games play. I've seen examples for everything from Dominoes to Quoits and Skittles, sometimes hallmarked, occasionally even featuring a gold element. All I know about this one is that it was presented in 1949 to an F. Souster for some measure of success in Darts. It's a shame there's not a little more information about the league/competition, and what exactly the achievement would have been that the medal was presented for.
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