The Case Is Altered, Fiveways, Hatton, Warwickshire

The vast majority of pubs in England and Wales are owned by breweries or pub companies, run as either managed or leased businesses with widely varying degrees of autonomy. This makes The Case Is Altered near Warwick something of a rarity. In fact it's that rarest of all pubs, an independent, family owned and run free house. This means it's free from the interference and unreasonable demands of pubcos, free to sell ales from whichever breweries the...

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A Collection of Shove Ha'pennys

The almost limitless variety to be found in manufactured and home made Shove Ha'penny boards is a dangerous thing for those of us with a penchant for collecting. Putting aside the relatively common and quite similar boards which were manufactured by Jaques, K&C, Wisden's etc. it seems that from my own observations almost every carpenter, cabinet maker, joiner, and sundry other craftsmen would have knocked up a few boards for sale locally. Add...

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Pattenmakers Arms, Duffield, Derbyshire

If it wasn't for the fact that so many good pubs have had so much of their character and history 'refurbished' away in recent years, a pub like the Pattenmakers Arms would perhaps be regarded as a largely unremarkable backstreet boozer, and in many ways it is. It's a friendly and welcoming locals pub for sure, and certainly noted for serving a good pint, but going about its business in the unfussy and unpretentious way that backstreet pubs like this...

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Oadby, Leicestershire

The east Leicestershire village of Oadby would have been quite a hotbed of Long Alley Skittles play at one time, with at least three pubs in the village known to have had an alley, almost certainly more if we include clubs.The image shown to the right is now probably of historic interest only, as The Wheel has recently received an extensive makeover. I haven't had a chance to visit for a drink yet, but I can see no mention of a skittle alley on...

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Crown & Anchor, Northampton

The eastern side of Northampton town centre, an area broadly known as Abington, has always seemed to me to have an unusually high number of pubs. Perhaps even more unusual is that so many of them are still open and appear to be trading reasonably well.This area is a classic mix of high density terraced housing and small businesses. Well serviced by restaurants and takeaways, and yet close enough to the town centre to be considered a part of the 'circuit',...

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