Long Alley in Long Eaton, Derbyshire

The Derbyshire town of Long Eaton has for many years been at the very centre of the Long Alley Skittles tradition. Until relatively recently, Tuesday evenings would have been alive with the clunk and clatter of highly competitive skittling, such was the popularity of the game with the (mostly male) locals. From my own observations in the town, practically every pub and club must have had an alley at one time, indeed most still do, though sadly many are no longer in regular use. Even so, there is still an active Long Alley Skittles league centred on Long Eaton, with perhaps half of the towns venues hosting games in the Summer league.

One of the unique features of Long Alley Skittles as played in the north Midlands is that it's predominantly an outdoor game, often played on alleys which double as car parking outside of match nights. It's this durable and semi-permanent aspect to the alleys which has helped preserve many of them from loss, in stark contrast to the many indoor alleys and other traditional pub features which continue to be lost following changes of ownership, or over-zealous refurbishment.

The alley shown above is at the rear of the New Inn, a lively, fully modernised bar in the centre of town. It's a typical outdoor 'Summer League' alley of a type found throughout Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Despite being very well maintained, this alley doesn't appear to be in league use at the moment (the skittles shown here are my own). The New Inn team are still active, but appear to have moved up the road to Brennan's. This is quite a common occurrence in league play, sometimes the result of the home pub closing, or simply a change of ownership mid-season. Note the sectional concrete return chute on the right. Built to last, thoroughly functional, and yet somehow a more elegant solution than the modern plastic pipe returns commonly seen.

Meanwhile, the alley at the rear of the Tiger Inn (right) could do with a good sweep, and the return chute has certainly seen better days. A neglected skittle alley like this one is quite a sad sight, but at least it's still there, and it wouldn't take too much to bring it back into use at a future time.

The Corner Pin is a typical town centre bar, popular with a younger crowd and not noted for its skittles play, though presumably it once would have been. There are many Corner Pins dotted around this part of the Midlands (and a few elsewhere), the name usually referring to the local skittles game.

The alley shown below is another neglected example, this one at the rear of the currently closed Royal Oak. The pub stands on a large plot with an extensive car park and Long Alley area. The feeling in the town is that the Royal Oak is unlikely to escape the developer, so this alley may well be lost along with the pub in the near future.

The Stumble Inn has a Long Alley at the rear of the pub, but as can be seen in the image above, it is no longer in use. The 'throw' for this alley is now home to a tidy new decking area, so is unlikely to come back into use any time soon.

It's not all pub game archaeology at the Stumble Inn though, with active Pool, Darts, and Domino competition in evidence. There's even the relatively rare sight of a Pinball in the games area, a game which has ebbed and flowed in popularity over the years, mainly I think due to the high maintenance costs of the tables. It's also a game which has been around long enough in this country to be tentatively considered a traditional pub game!

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Three Tuns, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

Old established family brewers like Elgoods seem to value their pub estates that much more than non-brewing pub companies. Pubcos (and sadly this includes some of the very large brewers) are so divorced from the business of brewing and selling ale, that their estates are merely there for short-term cash flow, or medium-term property investment. A brewery which owns its own pubs has a vested interest in their success since they act as a shop window for the brewers craft. Time and again, if it's the best of unspoilt traditional British pubs you're looking for (and a genuine, well-run Free House is not available), those owned by the old established family brewers are the ones that seem to deliver the goods more often than not.

A good many beer enthusiasts don't seem to value these more traditional boozers very highly though. The choice of beers not nearly exciting enough, the conversation not nearly 'beery' enough. Novelty, extreme hop rates, and unusual flavours are what beer enthusiasts favour, all of which can be more commonly found in a shiny new beer bar, no matter how dull and impersonal the interior. Even a Wetherspoon has more value to the beer enthusiast than a pub which has developed and grown within the local community for generations. The beer range is better you see, which for some seems to be all that matters.

Pubs like the Three Tuns are not for beer geeks though, they service the needs of people who perhaps have a better understanding of what makes the great British pub so unique and envied throughout the world. People, conversation, and the sense of belonging to a community that a true local engenders. Entertainment, games, and perhaps even drinking good beer, but without feeling the need to spend all night talking about it!

The Pool Table has now gone from the Three Tuns, but Darts, Shove Ha'penny, and a very good Dice Set are available for play in the comfortable front bar.

The bar itself benefits from a fairly typical set of Elgoods liveried stained glass windows, the small panes and sparse decoration giving the bar a slightly subdued lighting level which really suits the traditional decor, and very well suits an afternoon pint.

The dice is a good quality Abbot Ale set, containing a Shut The Box, Poker Dice, and Crown & Anchor amongst others. The Shove Ha'penny could do with a good polish and a bit more use.

 

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Brunswick Arms, St Johns, Worcester

The first sight to greet you at the front entrance of the Brunswick Arms is this unusual timber construction, a coin tossing game called  Grenuoille, more commonly found in French or Belgian bars. Lovingly homemade by the licensee, it's just one of the dozens of traditional pub and bar games which form licensee Chris Hankins extensive collection.

The Brunswick is a kind of one-stop-shop for traditional pub games. The collection includes just about every game you can think of, including the once popular local game of Indoor Quoits or Dobbers, as well as more common examples such as Shove Ha'penny and Shut The Box. The thing about the Brunswick is that these games are not just for show. Chris is keen for all the games in his collection to be played and enjoyed by his customers, and like myself, sees games as an important part of the social pub-going experience.

Total games immersion includes the twice monthly meeting of the local Subbuteo Club at the pub.

From right:  A rare and unusual Shove Snooker board. The Canadian game of Crokinole. A Carrom table, Asian in origin. A nice Mahogany Shove Ha'penny (see below).

The Quoits Board is a Jaques model, including the floppy rubber quoits, white on one side, which are traditional to the game. The other ring-flinging game at the Brunswick is the Rings Board shown below. This is the standard 13 hook design as played in Ireland. The game was once quite widely played in England, particularly in the north, but is now only rarely seen outside of the Isle of Wight where the game is still played in the Ventnor & District Rings League.

The Shove Ha'penny is a good quality board with brass lifters. Note that the bar comes equipped with several Shut The Box games, and a Put & Take is also available, though presumably not for the purposes of gambling! Even a humble formica-topped table has been converted to a Shove Ha'penny at the Brunswick.

The 'Shoving' format of pub games spawned many different games during its heyday, most of which have now effectively disappeared, not only from pubs but more generally. I've already featured a slate Shuv Billiards game on here, and I've also seen a Cricket version as well as many variations on the theme of propelling coins up a smooth surface.

This Shove Snooker game would presumably have involved 'flicking' coins rather than shoving, but like many of these unusual and largely obsolete variants, the rules are very hard to come by, so there will always be a certain amount of guess work involved when it comes to how it was played. One thing's for sure, I can't see a full set of snooker balls being represented on a board of this size.

The Dutch game of Sjoelbak is located in the garden of the pub, and gets well used on warmer days apparently. The idea is to slide wooden 'pucks' up the board, scoring by getting them to slide through the four numbered slots at the top of the table.

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Engineers Arms, Henlow, Bedfordshire

The Engineers Arms has such a good reputation for its beer and cider that it was judged a finalist in CAMRA's national Pub of the Year awards in 2012. A regular entry in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide, the pub also plays host to annual beer and cider festivals. It's also a friendly, welcoming, and thriving community pub, buzzing with locals when I visited, and if all that were not enough, it's a bit of a treasure trove for the pub games enthusiast.

The games corner at the pub features numerous board games, including the laminate Shove Ha'penny shown above (in need of a serious polish it must be said), Dominoes, and a good Dice set which includes the pub staples of Shut The Box and Crown & Anchor. The licensee also has a much better quality slate Shove Ha'penny which is currently being mounted into a wooden frame ready to install as a fold-down board on a wall of the bar. I believe there may also be an Evesham Quoits (or Dobbers) Board at the pub, though this was not on show when I visited recently.

A recent introduction to the pub, and an increasingly popular game throughout the country, is the Monday Poker In The Pub night. Whatever you think of Poker as a pub game (and given that until relatively recently it has been illegal to play Poker for money in a pub, and so it could hardly be considered 'traditional'), the good thing about the game is that it appeals to such a wide range of people. This includes many of the younger drinkers who have previously not engaged in the more traditional games such as Skittles and Darts (it's notable that the Engineers doesn't appear to have a Darts Board, though it may be that I simply missed it). The red padded table toppers for the game can be seen on the left of the Shove Ha'penny image above.

Perhaps the jewel in the crown of pub games at the Engineers Arms is this play-worn old Skittles Table, of the type found throughout Bedfordshire and beyond. This is a very well used table, mounted on sturdy turned-wood legs, and with what may well be the original leather covering. The table can be found 'outside' the rear bar in the covered patio area. A sensible precaution for a game as noisy as this, and playable throughout the Winter months thanks to the presence of a number of large patio heaters.

League skittles play doesn't extend quite as far as Henlow, but casual games are popular at the pub, including the Friday night bar room favourite of Killer

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A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Pt.12

Is this the cosiest Skittles Table in Northamptonshire

This table is located in the refurbished bar of the Hare & Hounds, Great Addington in Northamptonshire. The pub fields both 'A' and 'B' teams in the local Wellingborough & District League.

Shuv Billiards anyone? This unusual variation on the traditional pub game of Shove Ha'penny is apparently based on a Billiards table. It's a very weighty piece of slate, and scoring presumably entails 'pocketing' the coins in one of the four depressions on the edges of the board. Exactly how the game progresses once your coin has been shoved into play is unclear. I've certainly never seen one of these before, and have little doubt that I'll probably never see one again! Scores are pegged on the wooden 'cushions' which are numbered in a similar fashion to a traditional Billiards score board. This board was seen in a Norfolk antiques shop, but is unfortunately not for sale. However, the owner has plans to pass it on to his son who is in the licensed trade, so all being well it could end up being played in the pub again sometime soon.

Not many people would put a long wait at a rail station high on their list of good days out, but thanks to old-fashioned buffets like this one at Downham Market in Norfolk, the wait could well end up being better than the journeys end!

The Railway Arms is as cosy a place to wait for a train as you're likely to find, with real ales and traditional ciders to sample, and a small selection of games to while away the time between trains. The games corner includes the traditional pub staples of Cards and Dominoes, plus a Shut The Box, a handy game for the solo traveller.

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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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Compendium of Pub Games - Pt.10

This Northamptonshire Skittles Table takes pride of place in the bar of the Royal Oak in the village of Naseby, Northamptonshire. Cribbage and Darts are also played at the pub, which has a good reputation for its beer.

When you get bored with the fried food & ice cream of Matlock Bath, pop in for a pint at Ashover Brewery pub the Princess Victoria. Real ales are the speciality of this traditionally styled pub, but there's also a splendid hop garlanded Darts Board available for the sociable business of gaming.

The image above shows the pin setting and metal 'foul throw' sheet of an unused Skittle Alley at the Nags Head, Clay Cross in Derbyshire. From what I've been told, this is an all too common sight in the Derby/Notts area these days. The pub is perhaps the pick of the bunch in the village, a proper locals boozer, well run and welcoming. It's sad to see the alley covered in pot plants like this, but at least it still exists in good shape, perhaps ready to be rediscovered by younger skittlers in the future. The Clay Cross & District Skittles League is still quite active, with 28 teams playing in 4 leagues, though no pubs in the village which gives the league its name appear to be playing in the league at present.

A giant fund raising Shut The Box at Bedford CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival

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A Compendium of Pub Game Images - Pt.5

The Flying Pig in Cambridge was until recently home to a Bar Billiards Table, a game once common in the city. The table has now been replaced with a more prosaic Pool Table, and Bar Billiards may well now be extinct in Cambridge's pubs (though probably not in its college bars). This excellent, down-to-earth boozer is currently under threat of closure and possible demolition by developers, so visit while you can. A small Shut The Box game is available from behind the bar.

It seems that the Darts Board, and what was possibly the trophy shelf above, have been out of action for some time at the Flying Pig.



The recently opened Olde England pub in Northampton makes a feature of it's large communal table seating, with a pack of Cards or Dominoes, and a Cribbage Board for scoring on every one. There is also a selection of board games, including this Shut The Box, with more games being added as they are acquired.



Domino sets at the Horse & Panniers in North Luffenham, Rutland

The recently refurbished Devil Amongst The Tailors table gets a Saturday afternoon workout at the George in Ashley, Northamptonshire. Note the barrel trophy on the windowsill behind, currently in the possession of the George's winning Tug-of-War team.

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