White Hart, Bargate, Derbyshire

It's been a long time since I spent quality time in a part of the country where I could almost guarantee finding some serious pub games interest. My own neck of the woods was a banker for Table Skittles not so long ago, but whilst the game is far from being dead, certainly most of the tables seem to be gone from those pubs and clubs that survive, and the leagues practically invisible to those of us not actively involved in it. Whilst skittles as it's played in the West Country is one of the few that remains well supported, pockets of Derbyshire maintain their own tradition of skittles play with a measure of enthusiasm that's matched only by their enthusiasm for pub going itself.

Belper in Derbyshire is a town that's garnered quite a reputation amongst beer and pub enthusiasts, an area that somehow, against all prevailing trends, seems to actually increase in pub choice practically every time I visit. Belper is the pub town that time forgot, still awash with pubs of all kinds including many steadfastly traditional boozers, and populated by folk who clearly still love a pint in the convivial social atmosphere of the pub rather than home alone with a bottle or can in front of the telly. I love Belper!

Belper is also that rare thing, a stronghold of one of the most traditional of all pub games, Long Alley Skittles. Long Alley is a game played exclusively in the East Midlands, more specifically parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire. The Derby and Notts version of the game differs in that it's often played on outdoor alleys in all weathers, and with balls rather than the unusual barrel-shaped 'Cheeses' found in the Leicestershire game. These alleys are often located in the garden or car park of the pub, Long Alley being a very different game to that played elsewhere in that the balls (or cheeses) are not rolled along what are often rough tarmacked or concrete alleys, but thrown full-toss at a point just in front of the pins. This image (left) shows a typical Derbyshire alley at the rear of the White Hart in Bargate, with the foot or 'Chock' hole, which players must keep a foot in when throwing, seen in the foreground.

The Belper & District Skittles League has emerged from the enforced hiatus of the COVID pandemic with two divisions of sixteen teams for the Summer season. This represents a fair bit of skittling at more than a dozen pubs and clubs in the Belper area. Undoubtedly this is significantly less than in the game's late 20th century heyday, however you're more than likely to find skittles being played, usually on Thursday evenings throughout the Summer, and it's a great spectator sport when not raining.

The White Hart in Bargate village is one of these, a solid locals pub that isn't actually in Belper but it's very close, albeit up a lung-busting climb of around a mile (hint: weekdays there's buses until late afternoon). It's worth the climb though for a number of reasons, not least of which is the award-winning beer range at the White Hart. A hop and a skip further and you're in another great beer pub the Dead Poets Inn at Holbrook. Just a little further still and you could be supping in the Spotted Cow, Black Bulls Head, or Hollybush, a tidy afternoon pub crawl by anyone's standards. Or you could just stay at the White Hart and enjoy the beer and chat, because it's a typically chatty Derbyshire chatty pub.

There's a somewhat noisy bar to the left, particularly when playing host to a midweek Darts match (above) as it was on the night we popped in for a few pints. To the right is what would normally be a quieter lounge, though this too was alive with the rattle and clunk of a midweek Dominoes match (below), traditional pub games clearly still very important to the White Hart.

But pause for a moment to admire the serving hatch at the entrance (left), a rare enough sight these days though Derbyshire seems to have more than its fair share. There's not a lot of room in this entrance to the White Hart, but these hatches are sometimes used to serve customers in what is effectively a third room for the pub. It's more likely that this one serves as a handy counter for the handful of tables at the front of the pub.

It's in the surprisingly substantial beer garden to the rear of the pub that you'll find the Skittle Alley, squeezed into a wedge of hard-standing below the grassy bit, which means the garden affords great views of the skittling action of course.

It's early days in the season yet, but the White Hart currently languish at the bottom of Division 2 without a win. In better known and better funded sports this might be regarded as the relegation zone. Thankfully there's no relegation from the second division of the Belper & District League, nevertheless I'm sure the team would appreciate your support.