Blue Ball Inn, Grantchester, Cambridgeshire

Grantchester could perhaps best be described as an upmarket village located on the edge of an equally upmarket city. For the most part, the village pubs follow suit, all thatch, neat whitewashed exteriors, and plenty of gravel to accommodate the big cars of those drawn to this 'destination' village. I couldn't honestly tell you what most of the pubs are like inside, the lure of a more down to earth boozer drew me in on a cold Winter day.

The Blue Ball Inn is a lovely little pub located on the edge of the village. Snuggled into the centre of a row of cottages, a rural gem overlooking ploughed fields, yet only a short bus ride from the centre of town. Once you're there, you won't want to leave in a hurry that's for sure. Good beer, an open fire, a pub for conversation and conviviality. There are also plenty of amusements to keep you occupied should you choose to stay for a few leisurely pints.

The games played at the Blue Ball are practically part of the furniture. Pride of place, and a real rarity to boot is the Ring The Bull, possibly the simplest of all pub games to play, yet one of the hardest to master. An annual 'World Championship' is contested at the pub in April, though should you fancy your chances it's worth pointing out that home advantage counts for everything in this game.

If Ring The Bull is one of the simplest pub games, then Shove Ha'penny is certainly one of the oldest. The original version was played on extremely long wooden tables, highly polished to give minimum resistance to a metal 'puck' slid along its length. The more modern game developed as a compact, slightly more sophisticated version, easily accommodated and played in even the smallest beer house or tavern. The board at the Blue Ball is a nice old polished Mahogany one, the dark timber blending nicely with the surroundings of a bar considered sufficiently unspoilt to be listed on CAMRA's list of Heritage Pubs.

Chess is a game well suited to a pub like the Blue Ball. Another game which the licensee looked long and hard at installing was a Bar Billiards table, but despite much scratching of head and careful measurement, he concluded there was insufficient space for the game in either of the bar areas.

* Please Note: For clarity I've reversed the frosted glass image above, which read backwards from inside the pub.

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White Hart, Newbold-on-Stour, Warwickshire

The licensee of the White Hart at Newbold-on-Stour has made every effort to incorporate a range of traditional games into the pubs offering. The Aunt Sally 'Throw' to the side of the pub was originally laid as a Pétanque piste, but the game didn't find favour with the locals. When the nearby Bird in Hand pub was put up for sale, its future uncertain, the bright yellow Hook Norton backcloth of the 'local' game was moved across the road, where it is now stands facing the main road through the village.

The padded metal 'Iron' shown here is topped with a freely rotating 'Swivel', on which is located the wooden 'Doll'. The black circle on the sheet helps to highlight the white Doll during play.

The various Aunt Sally leagues all have well presented websites where a better understanding of the game can be found than I can give here. The White Hart team play in Division 3 of the Chipping Norton Invitation Aunt Sally League, and the game can be seen played on alternate Thursday evenings throughout the Summer.

Winter gaming is catered for in the cosy bar area of the White Hart with one of the oldest pub games still in play. A really splendid carved wooden Ring The Bull is mounted on a beam above the open fire, and is unusual in that it would originally have had five scoring hooks rather than the usual single hook game. The brass number plates for hooks 1, 2, and 5 still exist, and would presumably have been used for a scoring game of some description, or perhaps to go 'round the board' in a similar way to the game of Rings. The existing single hook may well be a later addition for a simplified game. Ringing the bull is more difficult than it looks, so it's perhaps surprising to learn that the record for consecutive 'rings' at the pub stands at well over a hundred! A Shut The Box, this one numbering to12 and using three dice, is also available for play in the bar.

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A Compendium of Pub Game Images - Pt.6

This Ring The Bull is at the Salisbury Arms in Cambridge. The nearby Blue Ball Inn at Grantchester also has a Ring The Bull, making this a (very) minor hot-spot for the game. Indeed a World Championships has been held at the latter pub!

The bar area of the White Lion in Oakham, with Darts Board tilted against the wall so that players don't have to throw over the piano.

This league standard Devil Amongst The Tailors table was on display in the Rutland County Museum during the recent CAMRA Beer Festival. It was labelled as a historical curiosity which used to be played in the county, and yet tables can still be found in a few Rutland pubs, and the game is still played competitively in parts of the country particularly Nottinghamshire and Bedfordshire.

The Northamptonshire Skittles Table and Darts are given plenty of room at the Royalist pub in Market Harborough. There is another W.T Black & Sons table in the lounge, and the pubs teams are active (and successful) in Market Harborough and Kibworth leagues.

The Boat Inn is well worth a visit when in Melton, being thoroughly traditional and very welcoming. Darts is played in the Melton Mowbray league.

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Prince of Wales Feathers, Castor, Peterborough

The Prince of Wales Feathers is a pub much altered over the years. The current layout incorporates what was once a small shop and an adjacent cottage, presumably the expansion was to take advantage of the huge increase in traffic on the original Leicester - Peterborough road in the years before the village was eventually bypassed in the early 90's. The village may well be much quieter now, but the pub is still a thriving local where all of the more recent changes have been positive.

The licensees are clearly pub and beer enthusiasts, offering a wide range of ales, including those from the village Castor Ales brewery. This is a firmly traditional community local, where traditional and not so traditional games play an important role.

League Pool and Darts are played, and a wide selection of Crib Boards suggest Dominoes and Cards are also popular at the pub. More unusual games which can be played are a fearsome looking Ring The Bull, and a handsome old Shove Ha'penny Board.

 

The Shove Ha'penny is an old, high quality board, made from a solid chunk of polished Mahogany with what looks like Boxwood and Ebony inlay. The scoring is quite hi-tech (for a Shove Ha'penny!), featuring rows of brass rotary knobs and inset wooden drums marked 1-3 rather than the usual chalked system. This would have been a relatively expensive board when new.

 

http://www.princeofwalesfeathers.co.uk/

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A Compendium of Pub Game Images - Pt.3

This Northamptonshire Skittles Table resides in the bar of the Cross Keys Inn, Kingscliffe in Northamptonshire. Unusually, the pins and cheeses are the yellow plastic variety more commonly seen in Leicestershire. I'm not entirely sure whether the table is used for league play, but visitors to the Cross Keys are welcome to throw a few cheeses for pleasure.

These lovely cribbage board pegs were given to me recently as a gift. They appear to be made from bone and are quite crudely carved, and yet in a modern context are almost too good for day-to-day use.

The unique and famous Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham lays claim (along with several others) to being the oldest pub in Britain. It certainly has one of the oldest traditional pub games in an original Ring The Bull. The game is located in the Ward Room, to the right as you enter the pub, though you'll have to get there pretty early for a game as the pub is often full to bursting with diners and tourists. The pub was also home to another game of some pedigree, with a (thankfully) defunct Cock Fighting pit located in the cellars.

League Darts, and regular Dominoes games are played at the George in Ashley, Northants. There is also a small barrel trophy for the annual pre-Bottle Kicking Tug of War between Ashley and Medbourne.

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Crown & Trumpet, Broadway - Pt.2

The Shut The Box is quite a large one by modern standards. It's an old thing too, with plenty of wear and tear through use. A better set of dice would have looked better in this image.







A better image of the Ring The Bull, and a Devil Amongst The Tailors missing a pin. The Shove Ha'penny and Evesham Quoits (Dobbers) are currently with the owner for repair/safekeeping.

The Crown & Trumpet had a Bar Billiards table until quite recently, presumably removed through lack of space. The pub is cosy, and can get very busy with diners during the tourist season. Interestingly, this shield for a Singles Knockout competition features an image of a Northants/Leics Table Skittles rather than a Billiards Table!

 

A modern hardwood set of Dominoes, and a few pints of Gloucestershire ale provided afternoon entertainment during the April showers.

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Crown & Trumpet, Broadway, Worcestershire

The Crown & Trumpet could be considered a minor classic for pub games. Though not all on show, Darts, Evesham Quoits, Shove Ha'penny, and Devil Amongst The Taylors are some of the traditional pub pastimes which can be enjoyed here. I'll be returning to the Crown & Trumpet at a later date, hopefully returning with a few images of the Dobbers Board (aka Evesham Quoits) to share on this Blog. Meanwhile, here's a taster of what's on offer, the devilishly difficult Ring the Bull, tucked away next to the Darts Board, and well worth trying, several dozen times if neccesary!

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