Raglan Arms, Rugby, Warwickshire

It seems a very long time ago that a pub with a Northamptonshire Skittles Table featured on this blog. I guess familiarity breeds complacency when it comes to covering your own local pub game, indeed my own village pub has a table that's yet to feature on here. Even then it was an afternoon visit to Rugby and not Northants that led to this post.

Despite a great many trips to Rugby over the years involving numerous good pubs (most of which are still with us I'm pleased to say, though sadly not our old favourite and former Hoskins Brewery house The Peacock), this would be my first visit to the Raglan Arms. A slightly negligent state of affairs you might think given that the Raglan is undoubtedly my kind of pub. But as the current relief landlord explained to me, even though the pub is on the very edge of the town centre, and barely a stone's throw from some of its very best boozers, it seems to get missed by visitors to Rugby, myself included obviously! This is a great shame as the Raglan has an excellent reputation as a friendly and welcoming locals pub, as well as being one of the towns premier destinations for real ale. It's also a pub that opens all-day every-day throughout the week, which as anyone who visits pubs on slow midweek afternoons will know, is an increasingly rare and welcome thing.

The Raglan has recently had a bit of a spruce-up too, reopening in the house style of new owners Black Country Ales, a small West Midlands brewery and pub company that's helped secure the future of many traditional pubs like the Raglan in recent years. In fact the pub very nearly closed for good way back in 2007, with plans submitted to redevelop the site as residential flats. Thankfully the Raglan was rescued on that occasion by local businessman David Hines, revitalising the pub as a popular real ale destination and CAMRA award winner in a town not exactly short of great beer pubs.

From the front entrance there's a separate quiet Snug to the left, before the pub opens out to the main bar with a raised games area at the rear. This is where the Dartboard and Skittles Table are located. Keep going and you'll eventually find yourself in a partially covered beer garden to rear of the pub.

Anyone that's visited one of Black Country Ales more recent acquisitions will recognise the overall look of the pub. Very traditional in appearance with stained wood and brass fittings throughout. It very much reminds me of Black Country Ales pubs the Salmon and Kings Head in Leicester, even down to the televised beer list, a necessary requirement given the number of beers on tap.

The skittles table is a long-term fixture of the pub, although actually owned by the home skittles team and not the brewery. A beautifully maintained WT Black & Son table, it's early history can be found stencilled on the underside (below). Once you realise this information is hidden away underneath the table, it's very hard not to go looking for it, though it's probably wise to explain to the bar staff what you're doing before getting down on hands and knees and crawling around on the carpet for a better view!

The numbers seen here tell us that this would have been the 80th table produced by the Northampton company, and that it was constructed in 1957, probably in September of that year. I believe the other dates refer to a series of refurbishments by WT Black & Son, dated at 1963, 1971, and 1973.

By modern standards these dates might seem unusually frequent. A full restoration of a skittles table today would probably only occur when it was truly worn-out through a decade or more of play. But it has to be remembered that when this table first went into service, it would have been used for league matches several times a week. Add to that a whole host of cup, charity, practice, and casual weekend games, and you can imagine it would have taken quite a hammering in a way that few tables do these days. I've little doubt the table has been refurbished since then as it's in very good condition, but by who is not clear as WT Black & Son ceased business toward the end of the 20th century.

At the time of my visit, the home team were skittling in the Summer season of the local Dunchurch & District Skittles League, but were actually playing their games at the nearby Webb Ellis pub rather than on their own home table. This was an enforced relocation due to the refurbishment of the Raglan earlier in the year, and the team are set to return to the Raglan for the forthcoming Winter season. Darts is played in the Rugby LVA Darts League, though quite why there's a trophy at the pub from the Leicester Inner City League is not entirely clear...