Leicester Table Skittles

The Skittles Table at The Tudor pub in Leicester

The Leicester version of Table (or Hood) Skittles is unique and almost entirely local to the city which gives it its name. This makes it very much rarer than the more widespread Northamptonshire game, which is found in several counties adjoining Northamptonshire (including Leicestershire itself), and which it resembles in many ways.

One of the great attractions of a pub game like skittles is the wide variety which exists within its basic form from one region to another. Table, Long Alley, and Western Skittles all have in common a diamond formation of nine skittle pins, with three 'throws' allowed to demolish them, but that's where the similarity ends. Every other aspect of skittles play, from the alley, pins, balls or cheeses, and of course the minutiae of rules and conventions of play, vary widely from one region to another, sometimes even from one village to another. It's this variety which fascinates enthusiasts like myself, and can also perplex players when encountering a version of 'their' game being played to entirely different rules!

So variation is good, and certainly adds interest to pub games in general, but when a version of a game is local to just one town or local area, it can also represent a serious weakness, maybe even jeopardise its long term survival. In the case of Leicester Table Skittles (and the Stamford game of Pushpenny is another good example), it wouldn't take much of a decline from its current parlous position for the game to disappear entirely, certainly in a league form which is predominantly supported by older players, and in the kind of traditional locals pubs which continue to close at an alarming rate.

So what is the difference between the Northants game of Table Skittles and the very similar game found only in the Leicester area?

The appearance of the table itself, as seen in the example above at the Newfoundpool Social Club in Leicester, is distinctly different to the standard Northants tables as built by Blacks, Pepper, Pinckard and others. The playing surface is longer, with the pins arranged significantly further back from the front edge than in the Northants game, somewhat in the manner of a Kentish Daddlums Table. The sides are lower, less deeply padded, and don't seem to play as important a role as they do in the Northants game, where bouncing a cheese off the side to down a tricky pattern of pins is common. I've no idea who fabricates these Leicester tables, some of which have a more home-made appearance than others, as I've yet to see any sign of a nameplate on them.

The two tables shown below are in regular use at the Nottingham Oddfellows Club on Belgrave Gate, Leicester. It's unusual to see two Leicester tables sitting side-by-side like this, but the Oddfellows have teams playing in all of the local leagues so far as I can tell, and the club may well have had even more tables in years gone by. Note the canvas used for the 'hood' at the rear of these tables. Northants skittles tables have a combination of leather (or carpet), and a fairly wide netting to catch the chunky pins and cheeses. The much thinner pins used in the Leicester game would probably slip too easily through netting, so a single piece of canvas is the solution. Note also the steel 'Mots' sitting on the tables, more of which below.

The pins and cheeses are a very obvious difference between the Leicester and Northants game. Boxwood or plastic are the most commonly found materials for pins and cheeses in the Northants game, although I've also seen darker hardwoods used in certain areas. The Leicester game uses exclusively hardwood. The pins are much thinner and possibly a bit taller than the stubby Northants skittles. Similarly, the cheeses are smaller, and this seems to make for a lower scoring game, where a 'Whack-Up' (downing all pins on the second throw) or 'Nine-a-Ball' (downing all pins in one throw) are less common. Even an experienced player of the Northants game would find it difficult to compete in a Leicester league without a fair bit of practice first, the skills involved are really quite different for such similar games. There is also a King Pin in the Leicester game, usually set in the centre of the diamond formation. It doesn't appear to have a scoring function, and other than the fact it stands a little taller than the surrounding pins and therefore slightly easier to hit, it's presence seems to be merely traditional, possibly copied from Leicesters other skittles tradition, Long Alley.

The image above shows a set of Leicester Table Skittles pins sharing storage space with the Long Alley skittles at the Star & Garter in Wigston, Leicester. In common with many venues for the Leicester game, the table is also used with a set of plastic Northants style pins and cheeses for play in county leagues. The pins and cheeses shown below are at the Foresters Arms, Frog Island, Leicester.

The game follows very similar lines to the Northants game, with the full team throwing to set a score which the opposing team aim to beat. Any downed skittles which remain on the bed of the table during play are not removed, but curiously, the cheeses are. The rules regarding removal of 'Dead Wood', as it's known, varies from league to league throughout most forms of skittles. The throwing of cheeses is always underhand, in common with all forms of the game.

A word about the 'Mot' (or Motte). There is a fair bit of variation with regard to where you stand in the
Northants game (and even how you're allowed to throw in some areas), but the standard for the Leicester game is to throw with both feet within the area defined by the Mot. This is usually fabricated from steel, and as shown at The Tudor (right), fixed to the floor giving a 9 foot throw to the front pin, .

Though there are certainly much fewer venues with a Leicester Skittles Table than there are for the Northants game, there are still several leagues in operation in and around the city. This includes the Leicester & Leicestershire CIU Ladies Table Skittles League, Leicester City Mens Table Skittles League, Leicester Mixed Table Skittles League, and the Notts Table Skittles League. Even given this number of active leagues, the long term future of a game as local and unique as this one is far from certain, and inexorably linked to the equally uncertain future of the community pubs and clubs where this and games like it are still played.

Leicester Table Skittles can be seen played on these two videos: LTS 2012 Pt.1 LTS 2012 Pt.2

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Cherry Tree, Catthorpe, Leicestershire

The Cherry Tree is a warm pub in every sense of the word. The welcome from licensee Phil Cartwright was certainly warm when I popped in on a Saturday afternoon recently. The open fire in the cosy bar was if anything a little too warm, but welcome nevertheless on a cold Winter afternoon. Another fire was being set in the games/function room as I snapped off a few of these photos, ready to help warm up the local 'Shoot' along with a few pints of local Dowbridge Brewery Ale. The shoot tend to settle in for the afternoon when they visit the Cherry Tree, and I can see why, this is as good a place to spend an afternoon as any you'll find.

The shoot represent welcome additional trade on a Saturday afternoon, a time when many rural pubs experience a lull in custom, or may even close for the afternoon. But it's the holy trinity of Darts, Dominoes, and Table Skittles which are the Cherry Tree's day-to-day lifeblood, with several teams playing in local leagues throughout the week.

This view through the trophy cabinet to the bar (below) was taken from the function room which houses the venerable old skittles table. Skittles is a noisy game, not ideally suited to an open-plan pub layout, so it's as well that this separate room has been maintained. The Cherry Tree field both ladies and mens teams in the Dunchurch & District League, with play on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Darts is played in the Lutterworth & Welford League.

 

Two aspects of Skittles play which are specific to the Warwickshire and South Leicestershire (and possibly Bedfordshire) area are shown in the images below. Plastic pins and cheeses are the norm throughout this part of the traditional table skittles area, and are in fact a requirement for league play. Plastic pins and cheeses like the ones shown above and below have been around for a good few years now, indeed I recall playing with them some thirty years ago in many Leicester and Leicestershire village pubs. But they would certainly have been wooden at one time, and my guess is that over the course of several years, many pubs replaced their worn out wooden pins with the cheaper and more durable plastic alternative, such that a tipping point was reached where it was decided that all league venues should adopt the newer plastic alternative. I can only imagine the strong feelings which would have been expressed at the meeting where it was finally decided to abandon the age old tradition of wood.

Notice also the steel square (below) used to define the throwing point, fashioned with a cut-out entry point on the right-hand side. Steel 'Oches' or 'Motts' similar to this are occasionally seen in the Northamptonshire version of the game, and seem to be obligatory throughout Leicestershire and Warwickshire, but this is the first example I've seen which seems to define both the minimum and maximum throwing distance, as well as the all important sideways movement available for tricky 'off the cushion' throws.

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The Chequers, Swinford, Leicestershire

A welcome respite from the rush-hour queues and frustration of the infamous Catthorpe interchange can be found in the nearby village of Swinford. Here you'll find the cosy and welcoming Chequers, a village local noted for its real ales, and a regular in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide. The pub is also noted for the traditional south Leicestershire game of Table Skittles, with league play on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Other games on offer at the pub include Dominoes and card games including Cribbage.

The dedicated games area of the main bar is to the right as you enter. You'll know it by the sturdy skittles table which is the main feature, and less obviously by the numerous framed pictures on the wall which should be familiar to anyone in possession of the book Pub Games of England by Timothy Finn. These include fascinating vintage images of games such as Daddlums, Ring The Bull, and Shove Ha'penny. The games area has the added attraction of a wood burning stove for the winter gaming months.

The pub is currently represented in the Dunchurch & District Skittles League, which straddles the divide between Warwickshire and Leicestershire in the Lutterworth and Rugby area. There's a ladies team, and both 'A' and 'Z' teams in the mens league. The 'Z' team presumably feel they know their place (currently mid-table in the mens 'B' league), and don't want any lower level upstarts taking it!

The table is a well maintained W T Blacks model, with the regulation yellow plastic pins and cheeses found throughout the south Leicestershire and Warwickshire area of Table Skittles play.

Tucked in an alcove of the games area is a well-worn table which has been augmented with raised edging for games play, specifically Dominoes. On the wall above is the trophy cabinet, which combines a homage to Leicester City FC, and the spoils of success in the local game of Table Skittles.

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Skittles - Not Just A Pub Game

The current trend for all things 'Pop-Up', including shops, restaurants, and even pubs, is like most new ideas, simply an old idea renamed for a new generation. The fact is, Pop-Up pubs have been appearing at Village Fetes and other community events for generations, named simply, and in the parlance of the time, the Beer Tent. The traditional credentials of this age-old Pop-Up Pub phenomena are often enhanced by a range of traditional Pop-Up Pub Games, with Skittles in all its myriad forms being a particular Fete-day favourite.

There's a fair bit of gaming crossover between pub and Fete, with all manner of games making the transition to the village green on the day. It's perhaps surprising that traditional Fete games like Splat The Rat, Roll A Penny, and the Coconut Shy haven't made the transition from Fete to pub game in the same way. Though maybe not! Having said that, the pub game of Aunt Sally has much in common with the Coconut Shy, and originated itself as a fairground game.

Of course skittles play at Fetes is much less competitive than pub play, often with a more random element due to the terrain, and primarily for the purposes of fun and local fund raising. It can also be a great introduction to the game for youngsters who may never have encountered skittles in a pub environment before.

The table shown above is a small handmade version of a Northants/Leics Skittles Table which makes a regular appearance at Caldecott Fete. This is probably the only similar table in active use in the county of Rutland, where skittles has all-but disappeared from its increasingly upmarket and food-led pubs.

The game shown here is a lovely old 'Country Skittles' set, raising money and giving pleasure at Braybrooke Fete in Leicestershire. The 'cheeses' are similar to those used in the Leicestershire Long Alley tradition, making this an ideal trainer game for the local pub game! Setting pins like these, which are often top-heavy, can be difficult on an uneven grassy surface, but this set is purpose made for the job and come complete with a set of spiked metal discs which can be inserted into the turf for the pins to sit on.

For every Northamptonshire or Leicestershire Skittles Table still residing in a pub, and there are hundreds, it's likely that just as many are now in private hands, sometimes located in parts of the country which are very far from the games Midlands home. This W T Blacks table is in the ownership of a local resident of Little Bowden near Market Harborough in Leicestershire, and has featured at every one of the village Fetes in recent years. A similar pub table is still in active use at the Cherry Tree in the village.

Skittles at Barrowden Fete in Leicestershire is a mix-and-match of Ten Pin Bowling Alley pins and a set of old Lignum Vitae Bowls. The bias on these Bowls presumably makes for a more challenging game. The Fete takes place on the village green, and in the shadow of the Exeter Arms which is home to a brewery and the local league game of Pétanque.

The table shown here proved a popular draw with the youngsters at the annual Feast Day in Stoke Albany, Northamptonshire. I've no idea where this table originally came from. Certainly the Fox Inn at the adjacent village of Wilbarston still has a well used table, so maybe this example came from Stoke Albany's pub, the White Horse which underwent an extensive refurbishment some years ago.

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The Plough, Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire

The first time I popped in for a pint at The Plough in Bruntingthorpe, the place was so busy that taking photos was simply out of the question. This was a Sunday afternoon, a quiet time for many rural pubs.

It wasn't so long ago that the ritual of the pre-Sunday Lunch pint (often followed by the Sunday afternoon session) was almost universally supported, albeit mostly by men of course! But as we all know, the steady weekly traditions of pub-going have been seriously eroded in more recent times, so much so that many rural pubs are now barely ticking over on what was once one of the most sociable drinking days of the week.

So despite the slight inconvenience to my photographic interests, it's great to see a pub like The Plough as busy as this, particularly on a Sunday afternoon in the depth of winter time. But then take a look at the picture below and it's easy to see why the Plough's regulars wouldn't want to be anywhere else on a cold Sunday afternoon.

The Games Room at the Plough features Pool, Darts, and a well used and well maintained Skittles Table which sees service in the Dunton Bassett Skittles League and Dunton Basset Ladies Skittles League.

The impressive array of trophies in the bar of the pub include the three turned Mahogany 'cheeses' shown below for 'Player of the Season', 'Most Improved Player', and a 'Wooden Spoon' for an individual team player. It's not uncommon to find that additional trophies like these have been presented, particularly where pub games play is still popular and well supported at a pub. Lilacs of Isham had a similar trophy for example.

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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 to go during the time when I was a regular visitor to the village. Crassly re-invented as The Chatsworth, and victim to one of the most garish and unsympathetic refurbishments I'd hitherto come across (needless to say I've seen plenty on a par with this since). The pub has subsequently morphed into an upmarket Italian bar/restaurant. The locals de-camped up the lane to the relatively unspoilt New Inn, fixing a small notice to the wall adjacent to the bar, giving notice that this was a welcome home for ex-pat Havelock drinkers. Since then the similarly traditional Plough on the hill was given a slightly dull off-the-peg refurbishment by Marstons and the King William IV was closed by local brewer Everards.

Thankfully, there are still a few traditional, and largely unspoilt pubs trading in Enderby, including my favourite the Dog & Gun. This compact village local still retains a separate public bar, which is where you'll find the well used Darts Board, as well as a more plush lounge bar. Pool and Leicestershire Table Skittles are played in the rear games/function room.

Table Skittles accounts for the majority of the silverware on display in this trophy cabinet. The pub fields teams in both the Dunton Bassett Table Skittles League and the Dunton Bassett Ladies Skittles League.

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Sir Charles Napier, Leicester

A little off the beaten track as it is, I'd recommend making the effort to visit the Sir Charles Napier. The pub is a classic inter-war years community local, recently refurbished, but still retaining three separate rooms including a cosy wood panelled lounge, and more functional games oriented bar. The interior is considered of sufficient merit to be included on CAMRA's inventory of Real Heritage Pubs, and more information on this and many other unspoilt classics can be found on the excellent searchable website: www.heritagepubs.org.uk.

Traditional, and some not so traditional games play an important role at the pub. League Dominoes, Darts, and Table Skittles are all popular, and compete for space with the more recent additions of Poker and Quiz nights.

The Skittles Table at the Sir Charles Napier is the somewhat rarer Leicester version, distinctly different to the more common Northamptonshire tables found in the south of the county. The pins and cheeses are the slender hardwood variety unique to the Leicester game, as opposed to the more chunky Boxwood or plastic used elsewhere. This makes for a very different game, one where the higher scoring 'Tips' (Whackups in Leicester) and 'Floorers' (Nine-a-Ball) of the Northants game are much harder to achieve.

The table is turned round and 'parked' in an alcove when not in use. It's a very smart and well maintained table, and the team presumably want it to stay that way. Skittles night is on Wednesday, with play in the South Leicestershire League which covers quite a wide geographical area including Earl Shilton, Syston, and Wigston.

Darts, Dominoes, and Skittles trophies jostle for position in the trophy cabinet.

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Steamin' Billy Pubs, Leicestershire

The Leicestershire based Steamin' Billy Brewery Co are a small but highly regarded pub company, with a steadily growing estate of traditional pubs. They take pubs which have often been neglected by their previous owners, spruce them up, greatly improve the beer and food offering, and then return them to their communities as true local assets. A Steamin' Billy pub is a proper pub, free from bolted-on themes or gastro affectations, and allowed to grow and develop naturally through use rather than given the twice yearly makeover common in the trade.

The latest pub to get the 'Billy treatment will be the Railway in Hinckley, a pub in a great location opposite the station, and in a town with a greater need for beer variety than most given the longstanding stranglehold Marstons have over the area. Skittles has been played at the Railway for many years, and it is hoped that this feature will be retained during the forthcoming refurbishment of the pub.

The Horse & Trumpet (above and below) in Sileby has sadly lost its Skittle Alley, but retains this dedicated Darts 'alley', and the licensee is keen to develop other games at the pub such as Poker evenings and Cribbage.

The north Leicestershire village of Syston has recently gained a Steamin' Billy pub, the Dog & Gun (below), a traditional two bar local located in the heart of the old village close to the River Soar at Brookside. Both bars come equipped with warming real fires making this the ideal Winter bolt-hole, but if you can drag yourself away from the cosy comfort of the bars you'll also find a fine selection of traditional pub games in the function room.

League Darts is played at the pub, but it's also great to find both a Leicester Skittles Table and Devil Amongst The Tailors available for play in the function room. Change of ownership and the inevitable refurbishment which follows often spells the death-knell for games like these, so it's to the company's credit that space has been found to retain one of the areas rarer pub games. The skittles are the slender hardwood variety favoured in the Leicester games, considerably more difficult to knock down than the plumper Northants pins in my experience.

The Western in Leicester is a substantial former Everards pub which has been leased to the Steamin' Billy Brewing Co since 2007. The pub was always very traditional in appearance, but has since received the full Steamin' Billy makeover, including plenty of items from Barry Lount's breweriana collection on the walls, and a beefed-up beer range. It's a good pub in a predominantly residential area close to the bright lights of Braunstone Gate, and features a Darts Board in the larger of the two bar areas.

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