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 owners wish, and free to run the pub just the way the owners like it. At The Case this means for the benefit of a regular custom of drinkers who like the pub just the way it is, largely unchanged and unspoilt by unnecessary change.

It's the family owned bit that's particularly important at the Case Is Altered, and what makes pubs like this unique and precious survivors. The current landlady took over the running of the pub from her late grandmother over 30 years ago, and this has resulted in the kind of continuity of ownership which is now unusual in the pub trade.

The constant churn of licensees in practically all areas of the trade, and the resulting endless rounds of refurbishment and reinvention, is one of the key factors behind the loss of so much genuine character in so many pubs. Of course I'm not saying that change in pubs is always bad, but when it's change for the sake of it, and without reference to local feeling or thought for the history and heritage of the pub, we often lose something important and irretrievable in the process.

So it's this continuity of ownership at the Case Is Altered that has helped maintain the pub as a truly unspoilt (if not entirely unchanged) classic. But it's not just the decor that's been preserved and cherished, it's also a hard to define, yet instantly recognisable 'timeless' quality which has endured in the bar. You get the feeling that things are much the same in the quarry tile floored bar as they've always been, give or take a few price rises.

A rare and genuine survivor at the pub is a very fine old Bar Billiards Table, tucked in a corner of the entrance lobby, and showing the deep patina of age and use. Bearing the label of A W Chick Ltd, a Birmingham cue sports manufacturer who seem to have been in production until the early1960's when the business was finally wound up. The timing and ball release mechanism remains unaltered from pre-decimal times, and old sixpences are available to buy from behind the bar for those wanting a game.

As can be seen above, Cribbage is still popular at the pub, with Monday evenings set aside for play, and beginners to the game welcome. I can't imagine a better place for a card game than in front of the open fire at this classic village local.

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Evesham Crib League

I recently spent a day exploring the pubs in the Worcestershire town of Evesham. The day was a simple pleasure trip for the most part, but I was also hopeful that if I went a little bit off the beaten track I might be lucky enough to find that most rare of pub games, an Evesham Quoits or Dobbers Board. Sadly, that goal proved fruitless, it really does seem that the once popular game of indoor Quoits has disappeared entirely from the pubs of Evesham, though it's quite likely a few boards might still be in situ gathering dust in the loft. The only pub in the town listed in the current Good Beer Guide had nothing interesting to offer this blog, it is a Wetherspoon after all. I do wonder whether there are any Wetherspoon bars in the country with even so much as a Darts Board to play. Perhaps someone will tell me if there is, I don't make a habit of drinking in this chain of bars to be honest.

What I did find in Evesham, still thriving, particularly in those pubs located a little way out from the town centre, was the card game most strongly associated with pubs and clubs, the game of Cribbage. Crib is not an easy game to master. It's a game where you really have to keep your hand in to play at anything like league level, and that involves a level of time and commitment which many people simply can't give these days. It's therefore one of the traditional pub games which is perhaps most likely to struggle or even disappear in the near future. I've only very rarely seen the game played by younger pub goers, and the recent trend for Poker in pubs and clubs is likely to put even more pressure on the survival of Cribbage as a league game.

You have to venture a short distance out from the town centre, over the river to Port Street to find The Bear, a popular multi-roomed corner pub. The multi-room bit is important, it means there's a space for everyone at The Bear. There's a smart, recently refurbished corner lounge bar, a more basic but tidy front bar (below) where the Ashes cricket held sway, and a larger lounge bar (above) which is where the locals gather to throw Darts or play Cribbage. The image above shows a Saturday afternoon game in progress.

The Angel Vaults, also on Port Street, is the kind of unassuming single room corner local you might easily pass by, but I found it one of the friendliest boozers in the town and well worth popping in for a pint. The trophy shown below is for Cribbage, as indeed are most of the trophies on display in the town. This one is the Bill Harris Secretarys Cup, which is played for in the Evesham Crib League. There's a Pool Table in the front part of the tidy traditional bar.

The Railway Hotel (below) close to the station has recently been given a sensitive refurbishment after several years of neglect. Sunday afternoon is Cribbage time, and as can be seen from the blackboard in the bar, lessons are available for beginners.

This trophy cabinet at the Coach & Horses, Harvington near Evesham, has all manner of cups, shields and engraved glasses on show, but once again they are mostly for Cribbage. This pub is one of the few in the area which still has an active Skittle Alley, and this will feature in a future post on the pub.

Some more examples of the limitless variety to be found in Crib Boards.

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A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Pt.17

The smiling chap in the Monks Habit on these Playing Cards is a reference to the Benedictine Monks who reputedly discovered Burton-on-Trent's highly regarded Gypsum-rich brewing waters. Marston's Brewery also used the image for their strong Merrie Monk Mild, as well as for a number of pubs including the now closed Merrie Monk in Dunton Basset, a former Leicestershire Table Skittles venue.

A well used brass Put & Take, a game which was very popular with servicemen during the war years, and seemingly purpose made for surreptitious gambling in pubs thereafter. The idea of Put & Take is that a Banker holds the stake, and depending on the fall of the spinner, either pays out or takes money from those playing. Needless to say the odds are always in the bankers favour so this role would be rotated throughout play. Put & Take pieces like this one can still be bought today, though it's hard to say just how much play goes on in the pub or elsewhere, given the relative ease of all manner of gambling pursuits nowadays.

Medals for Dominoes and Northamptonshire Table Skittles. Like most medals, cups, and shields, these are made from base metal these days rather than the Silver or Silver Plate of earlier, more handsome trophies. The skittles medal has quite a nice rendering of the game, the table located in the corner of a bare-boarded bar, as most indeed are. It was originally presented to a gentleman who played the game in pubs throughout Northampton town, for success in either the 'Pepper League' or 'Pepper Cup' competition. The Pepper family have a long association with the game, John Pepper being the last known maker of the traditional Boxwood skittles and cheeses of Northamptonshire Table Skittles.

These 'Darter's Luck' cards were printed for the Darts Club of the Alexandra Arms in Kettering in the 1950's, a pub already featured on this blog for its fine Northamptonshire Skittles Table. These cards were used as fundraisers for the team, passed around the pub, and paying out Four Shillings for a minimum Two Pence stake. The system has proved to be very durable, with almost identical 'Football Cards' still doing the rounds at pub game matches throughout the country. Indeed I was lucky enough to win the modern-day Four Shillings (more like £10) on the Ladies Skittle Team card at the Queen Adelaide, Kingsthorpe last year.

The chances are, if you spend time in a pub which is still frequented by a diverse range of locals, you'll come across a game of Dominoes being played. The game is certainly not as popular as it once was, it's a 'thinking' game of a type which doesn't seem to appeal to younger drinkers, but the game persists nevertheless. The chances are that unless you're in the Bolton area, you're unlikely to see anything other than the common six-spot dominoes in play.

Of course there's no reason why domino sets shouldn't come in other denominations to the standard six, and anything up to twelve spots is known. The higher the number of spots employed, the greater the number of tiles in a set, and in theory the greater the number of players in any one game. In practise though, most leagues in the UK and beyond stick with the tried and trusted six spot option. All except those leagues which operate in the Bolton area, where nine spot Dominoes like those shown above are the norm.

This large Mahogany Pushpenny Board is certainly showing its age. Pitted, scratched, and with a significant crack at the top end of the board. Nevertheless, it plays very well indeed and is a good example of how even with this level of wear, ageing, and even damage, a good quality hardwood Pushpenny or Shove Ha'penny can still be perfectly serviceable.

This board has almost identical spacings to a Stamford Pushpenny board, and the two-piece construction and thick copper stop bar suggests this has been homemade locally from a redundant piece of furniture.

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A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Pt.14

This is the wonderfully unspoilt interior of the Fox & Goose at Ilston-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire. The back bar now appears to be more for dining than a singalong around the piano, but the diminutive main bar is just as it's always been, or at least since the 70's when the pub was acquired by Everards from the now defunct Ruddles Brewery of Rutland. Everything about the bar draws the eye, from the taxidermy (note the dogs head overseeing the Darts Board) to the numerous bygones and relics acquired over the years. The Darts Board comes equipped with a nice piece of Wilton carpet for the surround, and scores of 180 are recorded on a beam in the bar. Dominoes and Crib Boards are also available, and I can't think of a better venue for an afternoon game.

This Skittles Table shares playing space with the Darts Board at the Royal George in Cottingham, Northamptonshire. The table was originally located at the Red Lion in Middleton, but was moved to the George (along with most of the playing team) following the pubs untimely closure in 2011. Cottingham's other pub, the Spread Eagle, also closed in 2012. The whereabouts of its Skittles Table is currently not known.

Until fairly recently the Artizan pub in Northampton was home to that most traditional of local games, Northamptonshire Table Skittles. Sadly the game is now very hard to find in its home town, and only the original chalk scoring boards remain at the pub. Pub games are still popular at the pub though. The Games Room on the left of the entrance accommodates a Pool Table for Wednesday league play, and the main lounge/bar to the right is home to a Darts Board and on Tuesday evenings the serious business of league Cribbage. The Artizan team play in the Northampton Licensed Trades Association Cribbage League, a venerable league established in 1897 and active throughout the year with both a Summer and a more usual Winter league, plus a whole host of knockout competitions and cup nights.

The Winter League is currently competed for by teams of nine players, and yet eleven individually numbered Cribbage Boards can be found in the games storage box at the Artizan. This is a throwback to the time when the game was popular enough for teams of eleven to compete. The 'odd' player numbers for teams is presumably designed to prevent the possibility of a drawn match. 

Not a pub game it's true, but the sport of Pigeon Racing is strongly associated with pubs, and more particularly the club scene. This sign is located on the wall of the Midland Railway pub in Syston, Leicestershire. Whether the Harrow Racing Pigeon Club still make their home at the pub is not known.

The beer, spirit and tobacco trade have long been keen to advertise their wares through the paraphernalia of traditional pub games. Playing Cards and Dominoes are obvious favourites for this kind of branding, as are Cribbage Boards, as shown in the selection above. The Tetley Bitter Domino set at the top is a relatively modern item, the lid to the box reverses to give the crib board. Watneys Brewery, the infamous creators of Red Barrel Keg Bitter, would have been distributing these boards during the 70's or 80's, whereas I've not managed to find out anything about Showman Tobaccos 'Six Pleasing Varieties', one of literally hundreds of long-gone tobacco brands from the early 20th century. This connection has weakened considerably in recent years, but regional and local breweries are still important sponsors of some traditional pub game leagues.

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Palmerston Arms, Peterborough

The Palmerston Arms has long been a favourite with beer enthusiasts. Ostensibly a Batemans Brewery pub, the 'Palmy' also offers a wide range of guest beers from other small brewers, usually over a dozen to choose from, all drawn straight from the cask.

But this is no one-dimensional 'real ale' pub, it's a true community local with a licensee who works hard to attract customers from near and far. In addition to the impressive beer range are regular live music sessions, a quiz night, and naturally a good selection of traditional pub games.

League Cribbage is still played at the Palmerston Arms, and there's also a good Darts Board. In addition a quality solid wood Shove Ha'penny Board has been introduced to the bar, and a pub Championships is planned for January during the pubs inaugural Winter Beer Festival. A few locals will be bringing their own boards for the event, which is as good an excuse for a day out with a camera as I can think of. I may even throw my own hat in the ring on the day!

The games corner has plenty of Cards, Dominoes, and Cribbage Boards available for use. The felt covered table-topper gets enough use at the Palmerston Arms to warrant its own Crib Board, and these trophies from the Peterborough Independent Cribbage League are an indication of a measure of success in the Winter and Summer leagues for the pub team.

Practically a beer festival every day, a cheery wood burning stove, and a good solid Shove Ha'penny Board make the Palmerston Arms the ideal refuge on a cold Winters day.

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Blue Bell, Belmesthorpe, Rutland

It's been a long time since village pubs could rely for their success on beer sales and local drinkers alone. A quality dining experience is all but essential these days particularly if rural pubs want to attract visitors from outside the immediate area. But sadly for those of us who like a pub to be just that, drinkers can sometimes be effectively excluded from a pub in favour of the all pervasive dining experience.

It's often argued that when a struggling pub is reinvented as a successful dining venue, on balance it's a positive thing because at least the pub has been saved from closure. Certainly a closed pub is serving no-ones needs, but where I disagree with this thinking is when a pub has become so singularly focused on the dining experience that it is to all intents a restaurant with bar and not a pub at all. In these cases, a pub has not in fact been saved, but rather a restaurant has been created at the expense of the pub stock. Of course how common this situation has become is largely down to your interpretation of what a pub is. I know there are many people who believe that so long as the bar has a handpump or two on it, ideally dispensing something from a small or local brewery, it's still fulfilling its role as a pub. I believe there's much more to a pub than the beer. What sets a good pub apart from a restaurant is that it should include at least some space conducive to wider social interaction, perhaps even with people outside of your own social clique. Restaurants, and many of the more upmarket dining pubs simply don't encourage this kind of social mingling. They are not pubs in my view.

Which brings me to the Blue Bell pub in Belmesthorpe, a very good example of how to cater for the all important food trade, yet still maintain its essential 'pubiness'. Not only does landlord Aubrey Johnson win awards for the quality of the beer on offer, but he has also made every effort to maintain the pub as the hub of the community. The bar is still a place to drink and chat, and games are still an important part of the mix at this community local.

The league staples of Darts, Cribbage, and Dominoes are played, with other games in the pipeline including a recently acquired Bagatelle, and plans for a Devil Amongst The Tailors. It's not surprising that games play such an important role at the Blue Bell, the landlord previously played Pushpenny in the nearby Stamford league, and still keeps his own board polished and ready at the pub.

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A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Cribbage Board Special

I think it's safe to say that Cribbage Boards are entirely functional items, having little or no value outside of their basic use, which is the scoring of games, and pub games in particular. However, looking at the small selection of Cribbage Boards shown below, and others I've featured on this blog, it's perhaps easy to see why they might stimulate the latent instinct for 'collecting' which lies in the heart of all men (and a good few women too I guess).

The variety available is literally endless, and therein lies the appeal to the collector. A huge number of simple manufactured boards exist, including those provided by tobacco and drinks companies to advertise their products (and which provide useful sub-categories for the keen collector). But this is just the tip of the iceberg when you consider the enormous number of home made and locally crafted boards which still exist in profusion. It's worth remembering that it wasn't so long ago that practically every pub and club would have had a few Cribbage Boards available for Cards, Dominoes, and other games. With many pub games now in serious decline, it's no surprise that so many of these old boards are now available to buy from wherever old and unwanted things are sold, and usually at very little cost.

So Cribbage Boards are both common and (mostly) cheap, and exhibit the kind of limitless variety which makes them ideal for collecting. They can also be quite attractive, tactile, and perhaps best of all, still very useful for their original purpose of scoring games, for which you'll need a set of four Cribbage Pegs. Original Cribbage Pegs are somewhat rarer than the boards, but being (mostly) inexpensive, and exhibiting a wide variety, are also ideally suited to collecting...

I'd like to make it quite clear at this point, that whilst I'm certainly a sucker for any bit of old polished Mahogany or Brass, I don't actually collect Cribbage Boards (or pegs) myself...

These boards are just three of the several available for use at the Prince of Wales Feathers at Castor near Peterborough. The Mahogany board in the middle was presumably for the slightly unusual occasion of a three player game, the one on the left designed to hold a deck of cards.

Triangular Cribbage Boards for a three player game are not uncommon, and are still made today, but I believe this unusual Crib Board may have started life as a Snooker Triangle. The basic construction is of quite a high quality and finish, and yet the scoring holes have been added in a very rough and ready fashion suggestive of local adaptation rather than manufacture or crafting. It's a nice bit of wood nevertheless.

Cribbage and Dominoes are popular at the Devonshire Arms, a pleasant back-street local in Bedford. There seems to be as many branded Crib Boards as there were brands of cigarette, tobacco, and drinks producers. The licensee of the Devonshire Arms is keen to get other pub games, and has reserved a corner of the bar for a slate Shove Ha'penny when he can acquire nice one.

A lunchtime game of Cribbage on the bar-top of the Masons Arms, Bourne in Lincolnshire. The pub has an abundance of games available, including Domino Sets, Darts, Pool, and a Shut The Box; with a similar glut of trophies displayed around the bar from league play.

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A Compendium of Pub Game Images - Pt.4

An afternoon card game at the Exeter Arms, Barrowden in Rutland.



This vintage Devil Amongst The Tailors was probably made to order by a local joiner, and presumably saw service in a pub or club for many years. This is a full size 'League' table, around 3 feet long, and made from a variety of woods including Teak for the pole, pins, and scoring board. A Cribbage Board is usually used for scoring Devil Amongst The Tailors, often built into the table as seen here. The usual finishing score would therefore be 61 or 121, though 101 is also quoted. The scoring board on this table is entirely non-standard at multiples of 35, a clear indication of the 'local' nature of the game where the rules would have varied slightly from area to area, or even pub to pub. This table is currently being refurbished and will feature in more detail in a future post.



The bar back at the Golden Lion in Bourne, Lincolnshire is decorated with some of the many trophies for Darts play which the pub team and individuals have won. The pub team play in the Bourne & District League.

This table top is used for Cribbage at the Golden Lion, but would
be equally suitable for Dominoes.Note the cribbage board
 permanently fixed to the surface.

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The Plough Inn, Old Radford, Nottingham

In common with many large towns and cities, you'll be hard pressed to find much in the way of interesting pub games in the centre of Nottingham. The closer to the busy shopping areas of a town you get, the higher the rents, and inevitably space in pubs tends to be devoted to the revenue generating pastimes of vertical drinking and dining. With one or two notable exceptions (which I'll be featuring here at a later date), you have to take a stroll to the fringes of town to find anything like a traditional game, even Darts can be hard to find in the centre.

The Plough at Old Radford is well worth the stroll out of town, not only for the comprehensive selection of pub games, but also the wide range of excellent real ales from the adjacent Nottingham Brewery. Firmly traditional in character, featuring two separate bars served from a central servery, cosy real fires in the Winter (or indeed the wet and windy Summer when I visited), a pub just as it should be.

Perhaps the most interesting game featured at the pub is the long alley skittles in the small garden at the rear. Quite a rarity for Nottingham now, most of these being located further afield in the Notts and Derby area.

For a throw to count in this version of Long Alley Skittles, one foot must remain in this hole when throwing the wooden balls (Woods), which must bounce once before hitting the front King Pin. In this image you can just make out the loose sheet of metal in front of the pins. A throw must also clear this to count, and the loud rattle of the metal is a clear indication of a foul throw. Opinions vary on the positioning of the King Pin, some stating it must be at the front of the diamond pattern, other in the middle. The licensee of the Plough helpfully suggested that 'it all depends...' which I'm taking as the definitive answer. On the right of this image, and below right, can be seen the yellow piping used to return the Woods to the throwing end

The alcove for the Darts Board is also home to the Dictionary & Games Corner, home to a Bagatelle, as well as the Dominoes, Cards and Cribbage Boards for scoring.

A nice modern Shove Ha'penny Board is available on request at the bar, in common with many such boards, now rarely used. A Devil Amongst The Taylors table is also available, though currently awaiting the replacement of a missing pin.



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