A Compendium of Pub Games Images - Pt.13

The Alexandra Hotel in Derby. Handy for the rail station, and popular for beer, railway memorabilia, and Darts. A pub league operates at the Alex.

This is the Aunt Sally 'throw' at the rear of the Horseshoe Inn, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire. An excellent pub with friendly locals and a good reputation for beer and cider. The Horseshoe team play in the Chipping Norton Invitation Aunt Sally League, and appear to have finished bottom of division three with no wins in 2012 season. Perhaps the beer comes first at the Horseshoe.

Shiny new stainless steel fermenting vessels and an old traditional Northamptonshire Skittles Table co-exist at the Hart Brewery in Wellingborough, but for one day only. This photo was taken during the run-up to Christmas when the brewery were running a 'pop-up' bar for the Nene Park Christmas Fayre. The table, another A R Pinckard of Kislingbury model, was on loan from a nearby pub.

This old Shove Ha'penny has the look of a well used ex-pub board. Made from three planks of quite lightweight timber, it's certainly not a commercially manufactured board, and may even have been produced from an old door or table top. The joins, which are solidly fixed with box joints, can clearly be seen on the image below where they have split slightly over the years through shrinkage. I've no idea what the wood is, but it's less dense and therefore softer than you would normally expect with a Shove Ha'penny Board. The surface is not especially smooth, and as can be seen from the images here, there are numerous dents and scratches on the surface. Nevertheless, it plays well enough, if a little slow, and the light-weight nature of this board means it is ideal for carrying to the pub for an afternoon game. A small brass eyelet on the top edge was probably used to hang the board in the bar when not in use.

These Long Alley Skittle Cheeses originally saw service at the Coleman Road Sports & Social Club in Leicester, as indicated by the embossed lettering on the ends. Sadly, this once thriving club has now closed, though the skittles team(s) are still in action elsewhere. This set of eleven hardwood (possibly Lignum Vitae) Cheeses were considered too worn and damaged to be of use in a league match and therefore surplus to requirements. A few hours with sand paper and Teak Oil has helped bring them back to a more usable state.