The Stag Inn, Kimberley, Nottinghamshire

The village of Kimberley to the north of Nottingham was perhaps best known for being the home of Hardys & Hansons Kimberley Ales, brewed at what was then the county's oldest working brewery. Sadly, and in common with many of the older regional and local brewers, Hardys & Hansons sold out their brewing interests along with the associated pub estate to the predatory Greene King brewery of Bury St Edmunds, who almost immediately closed the brewery. Genuine Nottinghamshire brewed Kimberley Ales therefore no longer exist, and local feeling towards the replacement beers from Suffolk, whenever you can find them, is often lukewarm at best.

The Stag Inn on the edge of the village is one of the few genuine Free Houses in the area, and has therefore gained an excellent reputation for its beer, offering as it does a wide range of real ales which often include genuinely local beers from small micro breweries. When a national brewing giant has effectively destroyed a local brewing tradition, it's little things like this that make a difference when choosing where to drink. The Stagg is also a tidy and attractive two-room pub, with a genuine welcome from the owners and regular drinkers. If you should find yourself in the area, maybe in the shopping hell of the nearby Swedish furniture store, I strongly recommend popping in for a well-earned refresher.

The pub was receiving the final touches to a sensitive refurbishment when I visited, so don't be surprised if the place looks even better than it does in these images in the near future. For games enthusiasts, the right-hand bar features a fine old Devil Amongst The Tailors table, donated to the pub by a regular many years ago and still a popular pastime with both locals and visitors.

The presence of the skittles table, slap-bang in the middle of the room, seems to leave an impression on visitors, and is often remarked upon in print or online sources. It has the unmistakable patina of age, and from the many years of play which it's no doubt seen. Notice also that it also has a 'net curtain' line attached to the pole. This is to prevent sideways delivery of the ball, a stipulation of local league play and a feature which seems to be unique to the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire area, and Newark in particular.

There's also a small collection of vintage coin operated games in the smaller of the two bars. The wall mounted machine shown to the right is known as an Allwin, and it's the second such game I've spotted in as many weeks, another example existing at the Gardeners Arms in Evesham, Worcestershire. These simple games of skill and chance were once widespread and extremely popular, though certainly not confined to pubs. The idea was to propel a ball bearing around a circular chute, with the aim of landing in one or more scoring slots, harder than it sounds and hugely addictive I'd imagine. The wide variety of forms these games originally came in has made them very collectible now. This one certainly looks the part on the wall of a pub like the Stag Inn.

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A Pair of Pubs in Milton, Cambridgeshire

Waggon & Horses

The village of Milton lies to the North of Cambridge, and seems unusually well served with pubs for its size. The Cambridge area, and Milton in particular, is one of several minor hotbeds of the game of Bar Billiard.

This is perhaps a legacy of the city's large University population, since Bar Billiards (and of course Table Football) were once very popular with students. Indeed a good few of the tables now found in other parts of the country will have originated in Students Union Bars or pubs which were popular with students. The Bar Billiards at the Swan & Rushes in Leicester is an example of a table which had previously been played and serviced in the university town of Oxford.

The Waggon & Horses and White Horse in the village come fully equipped with Bar Billiard tables, and field teams in the two divisions of the Cambridge & District League.

A Devil Amongst The Tailors at the Waggon & Horses is small by pub standards, but of good quality and probably made by Jaques as it resembles their larger 'League Brand' table in all but size. These tables were available to licensees as part of an initiative to 'Bring Back Pub Games!' by the then owners of the Ruddles Brewery brand. Three games were available, including a brewery branded Shove Ha'penny which occasionally crops up in pubs, and a garden Quoits set, more of a family amusement than a true pub game.

Dominoes, fine Elgoods Ales, and Cassels Cider are also available at the pub, as is a Shove Ha'penny, though the licensee couldn't track it down on my visit.

The White Horse

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A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Pt 16

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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The Muskham Ferry, North Muskham, Nottinghamshire

Skittles is the game of choice for pub goers in the Newark area. Long Alley in the Summer, and up until very recently Table Skittles (or Devil Amongst The Tailors) during the colder Winter months.

The local Newark Table Skittles league was one of the last of its kind still active in England. Revived only a few years ago following its untimely demise, the league has now hit the buffers once again. I guess a Winter league is always going to be that little bit harder to sustain, particularly if travel outside of the immediate locality is involved. It's a great shame, you only have to look at the handmade table shown here (and the similarly impressive model already featured on this blog at the Royal Oak in Newark) to see how important the game was to the area at one time.

I'm pleased to say that the Muskham Ferry team are still keeping their hand in though, with a friendly match lined up at a nearby pub on the evening I visited.

Another handmade Skittles Table, this one by Bernard McLean, and very similar in design to the one at the Royal Oak, right down to the neat little drawer for the pins as opposed to the cribbage board lid seen on most manufactured tables. The games room at the pub also features Darts, Pool, and a Shove Ha'penny.

The Skittle Alley was out of action for the Winter off-season when I visited the pub, league play starts towards the end of April come rain, shine, or indeed blizzard! In common with many Notts/Derby alleys, the throw is located in the car park, and in this version of Long Alley, the Sycamore balls are thrown on the full-toss, and must clear the metal sheet in front of the pins to score.

The two pieces of green painted metalwork seen here fit together to form a ball return. More durable than a wooden chute, and a little more elegant than the industrial plastic piping used at most alleys.

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The Bear Inn, Beyton, Suffolk

The traditional tile-floored bar at The Bear Inn is the kind of place that encourages you to linger a while. An open fire and a pint from Norfolk's award winning Woodforde's Brewery are always going to set the mood on a cold Winter day, but it's the quiet comfort of this unspoilt space which really hits the spot for me. Conversation comes easily in a bar like this, which is of course the single most rewarding pastime associated with pub going (despite what beer geeks and foodies might have us believe). Of course dining plays a very important part in the success of the Bear, but this is kept largely separate from the business of drinking and chat in a well appointed restaurant.

It's a good bar for a game of Skittles too, though the rattle and clunk of ball-on-pins perhaps suits the busier times at the pub. Often you'll see a piece of carpet fitted to the tray of a Devil Amongst The Tailors, and better quality tables were sometimes 'upholstered' with padded leather, but this one has a simple green baize lining, so it's a bit loud in use.

The table is most often used these days for a weekend game of Killer, one of the most traditional games played at the pub when no league is active.

This Devil Amongst The Tailors set is another sturdy model from Jaques of London, one of the most widely found manufactures of this and other traditional pub games, and still producing 'League' standard tables to this day.

The wood appears to be a lovely golden Oak, the pins and ball a hardwood, possibly Lignum Vitae. The scoring board slightly unusual in that it more closely resembles a Billiards scoreboard rather than the more standard cribbage board layout.

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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 outdoors, or at best in sparsely heated outhouses. This perhaps gives a clue as to the why another form of skittles is still quite common (though not so widely played) throughout the area.

Devil Amongst The Tailors (known locally as Table Skittles) is the most diminutive form of skittles still played in pubs. Through league play the game would have provided keen skittlers with their weekly fix of competition in the warm comfort of the bar, when the draughty alley would have been a thoroughly uncomfortable environment for drinking and play. The game is found throughout the Notts/Derby area, and is also popular in the West Country where alley skittles is still the game of choice in pubs. The absence of 'Devils' in the areas traditionally associated with the indoor game of Northants Table Skittles can therefore quite easily be explained.

Until recently, a re-launched Table Skittles League was active in Newark. Sadly, this league has now ceased, but the tables are still available for casual play in several pubs in the town.

This fine locally made Skittles Table is located in the back bar of the Royal Oak, a pub noted for some fine original internal fittings, including the 60's bar shown above (I'm not sure whether the funky seating is original, but it certainly suits the bar). The table appears to have been made from offcuts of skirting board, stained and varnished, and with minor repairs evident from many years of service. The drawer underneath the cribbage style scoring board is an unusual feature. Note also the short piece of net curtain wire attached to the pole. This is not, as you might think, to steady the pole, but acts as a bar to sideways shots which are not allowed in the league rules hereabouts.

The Skittles Table sits atop a converted Singer sewing machine stand, once a common sight in pubs, often complete with original treadle intact. The bar also has a number of original games tables, featuring shelves for pints during play. The noticeboard to the left is pinned with fixtures for the local Domino League.

The Newcastle Arms was also active in the local Table Skittles league until its recent demise. The table is now available for play on request. Also of interest at the pub is an example of the unique Lincolnshire version of the ubiquitous bar room Dartboard, featuring just a doubles ring and a single bull. Darts played on a Doubles Board like the one shown here is not unique to Newark or the Lincolnshire area, doubles darts is still played in parts of Kent and Yorkshire. Only in this area (to my knowledge) are the doubles boards entirely black like this one, giving them a little of the appearance of the original 'log-end' boards of the Manchester area. The Newcastle teams play in the Newark & District Double Board Darts League. The bar also has a number of original games tables as seen below.

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Queens Head, Newton, Cambridgeshire

Many people I'm sure have a vague notion of what constitutes their top ten Desert Island Pubs. It's a fanciful notion for sure, but still serves a useful purpose in that it helps set the standard by which all other pubs are judged. My own list would almost certainly include the Queens Head, one of those rare examples of a village pub where everything seems to be done extremely well.

The pub is another of those which are listed on CAMRA's database of Real Heritage Pubs, featuring as it does a largely unchanged interior, decorated with objects and images from the pubs colourful past, and equally vibrant present. A curved high-backed settle provides cosy seclusion in the tile floored public bar. Pale green hops decorate the servery, watched over by Belinda the pubs very own goose (now stuffed and mounted in a glass fronted case). Ales from Adnams are served direct from the barrel along with local cider from Crones, and simple but exceptionally good quality food consists of soup and sandwiches, including Ham carved from the bone or a scoop from a whole round of Stilton.

The Queens Head is no self-conscious 'heritage' pub though, this is a living, breathing local occupying a cherished place at the heart of its community. It's the kind of pub many people would want as their own local, a place for conversation, and of course traditional pub games play.

The games room was added as an extension to the bar in the 60's. The vintage array of pub games helps this later addition blend easily with the unfussy style of the bar itself. Pride of place goes to a play-worn Devil Amongst The Tailors table, an absolute beauty that provides clear evidence of just how durable this game can be in a pub setting. The pins are slightly chunkier than those used on more modern tables, and seem to be made of a lighter weight wood than usual, making for a 'softer', less noisy strike from the hardwood ball. Rubber mats have been added to the base of the table to help reduce the noise still further, and a pair of old Mahogany Cribbage Boards are provided for scoring the game. The result is a game which is a delight to play, yet unlikely to disturb other customers in the bar.

As well as the ubiquitous Darts Board, several more games feature at the Queens Head, including this damaged but perfectly playable Shove Ha'penny. It's a nicely polished chunk of Mahogany with brass lifters for settling disputes. A large wooden Nine Men's Morris (or Merrels) Board is also available, presented to the licensee in recognition of several years as licence holder for the local CAMRA beer festival.

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