Lethbridge Arms, Bishops Lydeard, Somerset

At the risk of employing a rather flimsy excuse as an introduction to this post, the game of Fives has been on my mind a little more than usual of late. My friend and fellow pub games enthusiast John Penny started it all off with a feature he wrote on the game earlier this year for Visitor Magazine. A much more in-depth and informative piece than I'll attempt here, and I urge you to follow the link and read it from page 20 for a better understanding of the game.

John is of course a Dorset man, as evidenced by his sometimes impenetrable Dorsetshire accent and a deep love of Dorset's national sport, Alley Skittles. John plies his skittling trade, with some success it must be said, at the famous Rose & Crown in Bradford Abbas, and more widely at away matches in Dorset and over the border in Somerset. So a rare pub gaming tradition almost unique to neighbouring Somerset was never going to escape Johns keen eye for long, even if it's now effectively an extinct tradition as far as the pub is concerned.

Fives as a competitive game dates back several centuries, and was widely played throughout the country and latterly exported to the then colonies. A form of Handball that requires nothing more complex to play than a solid wall, a ball with some measure of bounce, and tough or gloved hands. As far as Somerset is concerned, the game seems to have developed and become popular when played between the buttresses of a church tower (indeed surviving walls are still known as 'Towers'), which would probably have been the only suitable 'court' available to ordinary folk at the time. I don't know whether the example shown here on the north side of Carhampton Church is known to have been used for the game, but the basic form and a clearly delineated line a couple of feet up is typical, and would have certainly made it possible.

When the church inevitably clamped down on this potentially destructive pastime, local licensees would have seen an opportunity to bring the game within the confines of their own business, erecting Fives Towers adjacent to pubs, some of which survive to this day. Sadly none of these are now in use, making Fives a pub gaming tradition awaiting a revival of interest. The game of Fives is of course still played in various parts of the UK, though for the most part it's now a game of private school education, most famously the surviving traditions at Eton, Rugby, and Shrewsbury schools. For our part, perhaps the best way to experience the skill and excitement of the game now is in the Basque region of Spain, where a similar game Pelota remains very popular.

The surviving Fives Towers in Somerset may no longer be in use, but they represent a great opportunity for tourists like myself to visit, often being handy for pubs and of course eminently 'collectable'. A cluster of surviving Towers near Yeovil would make for an easy tour, but I visited an outlier at the Lethbridge Arms in the village of Bishops Lydeard to the north of Taunton. Bishops Lydeard is perhaps more famous these days as the eastern terminus of the West Somerset Heritage Railway, making a visit to the Lethbridge even easier for tourists in the Minehead area.

Visiting a pub like the Lethbridge on one of the hottest days of the year, and in the middle of the latest table-service only restrictions, makes it difficult to get a handle on what the pub is like under more normal circumstances. Everyone was in the garden, making the sprawling interior seem even more expansive than it would be with a smattering of locals in to augment the space. Largely food focussed it seems, which is hardly surprising given its proximity to the rail station, we nevertheless enjoyed a good local beer in the garden to the rear of the pub, overlooked by the towering Fives wall, and near-deafened by the sound of Sparrows at play.

The impressive Fives Tower at the Lethbridge Arms stands as a boundary between the pub car park and an adjacent cottage. Built of stone with a more 'even' red brick facing, the tall self-supported structure is strengthened by sturdy buttresses to the side (right) and rear (below). It's clear that the game would have been played and spectated from the rear of the pub itself. Albeit that it now abuts the pubs busy car park, the Fives Tower at the Lethbridge could quite easily be used for a game even now should anyone fancy a revival.

For more information on Somerset Fives, I recommend this blog post which features several of the surviving Towers, as well as this post on the Eton Fives Association website.

Kildare Lodge, Minehead, Somerset

For many thousands of enthusiastic pub games players, and this blog of course, the last year or so of lockdown and restrictions have all-but pulled the rug from under their particular pub pleasure. I think initially some casual play of Darts and Pool was allowed, but when pubs and clubs closed completely, and more recently when trade was forced outdoors and into ever smaller socially distanced groups, even these limited contact games were effectively banned.

It's doubtful whether any pub games leagues have managed to function since close of play at the end of the 2019/20 Winter season, and for most leagues the resumption of competition seems no nearer, even with pubs open and the promise of reasonably normal bar service. As we've seen in more recent weeks, it's perfectly possible to engage with pubs and other pub-goers for a few drinks, a chat, or bite to eat, but the uniquely 'intimate' and social nature of most traditional pub games has put them very firmly at the back of the queue for a long-overdue opening time. Which made my recent discovery that league competition, in one game at least, resumed at pubs in Somerset over a month ago now, something of a pleasant surprise to say the least. 

North Somerset has long been a regular haunt of mine, and an occasional holiday spot since teenage years. The stretch of coastline around Minehead a particularly happy hunting ground for pubs, beer, and strong local cider. I usually take advantage of the West Somerset heritage rail line for trips to Dunster, Watchet, and of course a day of sun, sea, fish and chips in the attractive tourist trap of Minehead. There are some very fine pubs to be found in the area if you know where to look, one of which, the Kildare Lodge, has been on my to-do list for some time now, so I was delighted to finally pop in for a couple of pints this year.

I find most pubs are attractive in their own way, even the much derided post-war estate pubs can have a unique 'vintage' visual appeal that transcends their somewhat utilitarian origins. Few pubs are as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as the grade II* listed Kildare Lodge though. As you can see from these photos, Kildare Lodge is a truly stunning Arts and Crafts styled building, beautifully maintained for the benefit of locals and visitors who clearly appreciate the pubs unique architecture and ambiance, as well as the very good range of local ales on offer. Originally built as a residence and surgery for a local doctor, the building is now in the hands of Harvey & Sarah Pyle, sensitively altered and re-purposed for its current important role in the local community.

Somerset is, of course, at the very heart of a very well supported West Country Skittles tradition, indeed there are still a fair few alleys at pubs and clubs in the Minehead area for the game. Boules (also known as Petanque) is a relative newcomer, the local league having been established less than 20 years ago but now grown to three divisions. This probably makes Boule the more popular of the two games in this area, certainly during the warmer Summer months when Skittles leagues often contract due to other player commitments. Whatever the reality, it's easy to understand the appeal of Boule as a Summer game at Kildare Lodge.

The three Boule Pitches at the pub adjoin a tidy beer garden, and are immaculately maintained with bench seating for spectating games. It's hard to imagine a better place to enjoy a pint on a Wednesday evening in the Summer, which is presumably why the pub hosts more teams in the West Somerset Boules Association league than any other. The boule association have clearly worked hard with local authorities and licensees to re-start competition safely, the only stipulation for spectators at this time is they must remain seated, no matter how tense and exciting the play gets.

Not benches, these are for the Boule 

Traditional Inn Games - The Gaymer's Cyder Beermat Collection

Pub gaming ephemera and equipment has long been a medium for drinks and tobacco companies to advertise their wares. Playing Cards, Dominoes, Darts Flights and Scoreboards were all commonly appended with Brewery names and Tobacco brands, and along with league sponsorship there are few areas of the pub games tradition that would have escaped the marketing departments attention.

In truth, I doubt whether this kind of advertising was intended to sway drinkers and smokers one way or the other to any great degree, all pubs being very firmly tied to their respective breweries back then. I'd imagine that then, as now, drinker and smoker preference was based largely on personal taste, price, and choice of pub rather than the hard sell of an attractively branded Cribbage Board. These items were more about brand loyalty, cheap or free tokens available to customers as part of the all-important 'sales rep - licensee' relationship.

So customers got to play their favoured games at the pub without the added expense of having to supply their own equipment, and the drinks and tobacco industry obviously saw the value of rewarding valued customers with relatively inexpensive branded tokens of their appreciation, thereby cementing the relationship between brand and customer. The legacy of all this of course, is a healthy interest from enthusiasts of all things Brewery and Tobacco related, indeed some of these everyday items are worth quite a bit to collectors nowadays.

Occasionally, as shown here, the tables are turned and a drinks company enlists the help of traditional pub games to sell their products, in this case via the time-honoured method of the Beer Mat. Never ones to miss a trick, marketing departments know the value of a well placed 'info-mat', branded on one side, concisely informative on the reverse, and a last-resort bit of reading material in times of idle boredom at the pub. Make them a numbered set and you're guaranteed to want to read (or indeed collect) them all.

This set was produced by Gaymer's, probably around the time the brand was in the hands of Mathew Clarke in the 1990's. Olde English Cyder was a huge cider brand back then, the unique 'Costrel Barrel' keg fonts and false handpumps seemed to be on the bar counters of just about every pub, presumably the result of a massive marketing push, of which these mats would have played their part.

Eight in number, these beer mats feature Traditional Inn Games that would have been quite rare, or at the very least in serious decline even then. The descriptions are accurate enough though, such that I have to wonder who's work the marketeers drew more heavily on, Arthur Taylor or Timothy Finn!

Olde English Skittles (No.6) takes preference over more common variants of the game, presumably because of the 'Olde English' prefix fitted better with the cider brand being advertised. To say that 'The game still flourishes in certain parts of London' is somewhat fanciful. I think at this time there may have been just two, maybe three venues for the game, of which only one pub alley survives today (where it does indeed flourish).

I can't in all honesty say I've ever seen Nine Mens Morris (No.5) being played in the pub, though I have seen examples of the games unique board on occasion. The same cannot be said for Dominoes (No.4) of course, which is still one of the most popular games found in the pub, albeit that the mat refers to the 'Block' game rather than the more 'pubby' Fives & Threes version played competitively in pub and club leagues.

Dobbers (No.7) is a name rarely used these days for the game of Indoor Quoits depicted on this mat, and sadly even then it was probably almost extinct as a game in the Vale Of Evesham when these were in circulation. The game clings on in just a handful of reasonably well-supported leagues, located along the Welsh Borders area.

Shove Halfpenny (No.1), or Shove Ha'penny, is indeed widespread in that there are still many boards for the game in existence, though sadly not so many located at the pub these days. Competitive league play can still be found in the West Country, Wales, and in its Pushpenny variant, Lincolnshire and Sussex.

As stated on the mat, Quoits (No.3) remains relatively popular in certain parts of Northern England, though its status in East Anglia is now less certain. At one time regarded as a national sport to rival Football, the game remains a fantastic spectacle for the casual spectator during a Summer evenings play.

The final two mats are real curiosities. Tossing the Penny (No.8) still exists in a handful of pubs in Anglia, with one outlier at a pub in Rutland. A real glimpse of rural pub life, an unsophisticated game for farmers and villagers that's literally part of the furniture in those few pubs where the game survives. Similarly, Ringing The Bull (No.2) was a pub pastime created to while-away an afternoon or evenings drinking. Little more than a tethered copper Bull Ring and a hook, it's hard to imagine how the brewery and tobacco marketeers would have enlisted these two games to their cause.

The George, Ashley, Northamptonshire

It's the 12th of April, frosty Spring is just about giving way to the warm promise of Summer, and the pubs are finally open again! Or rather pub gardens are open, bar rooms and snugs are still deemed far too dangerous to linger in! Let's not be churlish though, a pub that's open in any form is clearly better than a pub that's closed, and from where I'm sitting today, at the pub, pint in hand, with the sun shining and temperatures set to rise later this week, the timing seems opportune.

Not only are we on the very cusp of British Summer time, when the great British beer garden really comes into its own, it seems to me that even the most single-minded drinks enthusiasts will have realised by now that drinking at home is not necessarily the greatest of drinks 'experiences'. I for one am bored rigid with popping fancy cans of beer at home, no matter how highly crafted the contents, and the long cold Winter has even deprived us of our own personal 'beer gardens', the closest many of us have come to a 'near-pub' experience this year. It's high time we got back to the pub!

The last time we were released from lockdown was a very different experience of course, given that we were free to drink and dine 'inside' the pub, albeit with a raft of rules and restrictions. Filled with enthusiasm and confident of fine Summer weather, I celebrated that day in July by taking a stroll along one of our long-distance footpaths to a nearby village pub. It was a truly memorable day at one of my favourite traditional pubs in the area, and one that I've been looking forward to repeating all through this latest Winter lockdown. So another trek across freshly ploughed and recently seeded fields seemed entirely appropriate today, and to yet another pub that's been a long-time favourite of mine.

The George

The George at Ashley was my local once. By which I mean a local in the true sense of the word. Not just a regular 'beer' haunt, nor indeed the pub on my doorstep, but the one I 'chose' to use two or three times a week in preference to many others nearby. A proper 'prop-up-the-bar' local, a chatty villagers local, a rugby and too many pints on a Saturday afternoon local. Not the only 'local' of its kind in the area it's true, but it was mine for a time, and I must say I loved it to bits.

Sparse description of The George from a 1990 CAMRA guide

In truth The George became my local because my 'actual' local at the time (which was truly 'local' being in my own village) finally closed its doors as a pub for good. I have to say that I was truly gutted at losing my beloved village local, so exchanging a 5 minute stroll to the pub for upwards of an hours trek to the next village seemed entirely reasonable at the time. A man's got to have his local!

The George was somewhere we liked to visit for a whole number of reasons. The flat road across the Welland floodplain made cycling or walking for a pint more of a pleasure than a chore, and the benches at the front were just the best place to rest our legs when we arrived, down a few pints, and watch the local horses clop by. The pub also became a favoured destination for the Friday night warm-up session when the infamous Welland Valley Beer Festival was in full swing. Sadly that memorable event became a victim of its own success, but I'm sure many will remember with great fondness the beer tent and BBQ at the rear of the pub.

Later on we made the George our home for afternoon rugby matches on the telly, taking an old Shove Ha'penny Board along for a few half-time games that would inevitably extend well beyond the final whistle! Rugby at the George was always a treat given the pubs position near the Leics/Northants border. Ostensibly a Tigers pub, there was always a good few Saints fans in for the banter too. Later on a Devil Amongst The Tailors table made the journey across the valley, a favourite with children in the bar, and therefore a firm favourite with the parents too!

So what of the George now. What changes has it seen over the years since my first visit almost 20 years ago. Well the George is still essentially the same 'improved' farmers bar it's always been. An alehouse in a very small village, little altered over the years but now spruced-up and with much more of a food aspect. The traditional Northants Skittles Table that graced the tiny rear bar is long gone (though I understand it's still located in the village). A brass strip set into the quarry tiled floor marks the original throwing point, probably the only clue there was ever a skittles table at the pub. Until recently there was also a well-used Dartboard in the bar, the pub fielding a strong team in the local Welland Valley Darts League. Sadly the Dartboard seems to have gone, but then it's a very small bar and space is clearly at a premium.

Another feature of the pub that may or may not have survived the recent lockdowns is the weekend Dominoes game. A group of perhaps half a dozen folk from villages round and about were always to be found rattling the tiles on a Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon, the sound of village locals everywhere until recent years. The game of Fives & Threes is open to anyone that likes a game, in fact I sat in on a game one afternoon with typically mixed results!

So the games have largely gone, but in new hands it's still very much the pub it's always been. Open Monday to Sunday, and remarkably for a village pub, that includes lunchtime hours every day of the week, even Mondays! A pub for the locals, but also a destination pub with a strong food offering. You're still welcome to pop in for a drink though, or will be when restrictions on inside drinking are finally lifted in May. I may not be a local anymore, but there's still a bench at the front for horse and tractor watching, and I can see myself walking across the fields to the George quite a lot this year.

Easter Monday Tradition

 

Until the recent COVID disruptions, the George played it's part in an important local sporting tradition. Many will have heard of the Easter Bottle Kicking event between nearby Hallaton and Medbourne villages, a rivalry said to date from Pagan times! What's not so well known is the traditional Tug of War between the villagers of Ashley & Medbourne that usually takes place on the morning of the Bottle Kicking. Mens, Womens, and a Childrens competition have been held, the winners of the Mens match, a best of three, claiming the bragging rights and a shield on the spirit barrel trophy shown here. There is also a wooden Ice Bucket trophy for the Womens competition, both of which were held at the George when I first started visiting. 

Rose & Crown, Bradford Abbas, Dorset

If Bradford Abbas is the archetypal sleepy English rural village, then the Rose & Crown certainly fits the bill as its typical English village pub (though far from sleepy when a skittles team are at home). A 14th century boozer of mellow local stone, firmly planted at the centre of the village in the shadow of the parish church. In fact the Rose & Crown is a proper old 'Inn' with several letting rooms, a long rambling bar and dining area, attractive beer garden, and entirely typical for a Dorset pub, a historic and very well-used Skittle Alley. I didn't see it myself, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were 'Good Stabling' available at the pub too, such is the timeless feel of the place.

My first, and thus far only visit to the 'famous' Rose & Crown was over four years ago now, part of a whistle-stop tour of towns and villages in beautiful Dorset. It also marked my first, and quite probably last truly competitive game of 'West Country Alley Skittles', the traditional game played at pubs and clubs all through the West Country and beyond. This version of skittles is the countrys most popular and well supported by some degree, but it's one that I have little experience of, and even less skill at playing if truth be known.

I spent an eventful night at the pub in August that year, playing skittles for the home team at the behest of my Dorset skittling buddy John Penny, a man who's even more enthused by traditional pub games than I am, if that's possible! John has captained teams at the Rose & Crown for longer than anyone cares to remember, playing Summer and Winter in the local Yeovil Skittles Leagues. A good player by all accounts, though clearly a very poor judge of form given that he was happy to sign me up as a reserve player for the 2016 Summer league. This bad judgement continued when he actually picked me to make up the numbers for a Division 4 league match, playing in the middle order for the 'Merkins' at the business end of the Summer season! I guess that even in the skittling hotbed of Dorsetshire, there's more to playing the game than merely winning, and I was delighted to accept the challenge.

So there's John (above), showing his best side and setting the pins for a few practice rounds on the Rose & Crown alley ahead of the big night. As it was I didn't entirely embarrass myself, though the team charitably offered me a bye on the bewildering array of big-money forfeits that come with top competition like this. Missing the pins entirely, missing your 'spare' etc. I think I managed all of these, transgressions which usually carry a hefty fine. As a rank novice though, I managed to escape the skittle alley that night with almost all my pocket money intact. All the more loose change to lose in the hotly contested game of Three Card Brag in the bar later!

The Merkins, including the nights hard-working 'Sticker-Up' at the front

In fact we won the match that night, thanks in the main to consistent if unspectacular scoring from all team members. Other than myself of course, who scraped to a thoroughly average total of 40. But with just 7 points deciding the winners, I was simply relieved that I hadn't missed the pins entirely and thrown the whole match. As a former Northants Table Skittles player I must say that I found the etiquette of the game slightly odd. The whole team leaving the alley and decamping to the bar whilst the opposing players set their score is not what I'm used to. Of course that meant there was less scrutiny from the opposition, and hence a little less pressure to perform, which undoubtedly helped me with my debut game. The only barracking in Dorset Skittles seems to come from your own team mates!

I describe the pub itself as being famous, and famous it most certainly is, albeit amongst a fairly small circle of games and pub enthusiasts. The image shown here (right) is from one of two 1930's British Movietone films which feature the 'Old Men of Bradford Abbas', including four elderly gentlemen whose combined age of 357 seemed to present no obstacle to regular trips to their village local. Nor indeed a few 'hands' of skittles in the pubs ancient skittle alley or on the Devil Amongst The Tailors (below). Images of these 'Lads of the Village' were used in promotional material by Dorset brewers Eldridge Pope in the 60's and 70's, so it's quite possible you may have come across them before and wondered at their origin.

The 'Athletics' film features the 'Lads' throwing a few balls down the stone-walled alley, and it's thought that this may represent the earliest recorded footage of a game of skittles in progress, albeit one for the 'Four Sovereigns Stakes' and Movietone cameras rather than the cut and thrust of league competition. Perhaps John could resurrect the 'Stakes' at the pub for old times sake, though he might struggle to match the 357 age-total these days. They were made of sterner stuff back then it seems...

The 'Duck' trophy, traditionally awarded to those players with the skill to avoid hitting any skittle pins at all on their go. Luckily I avoided the Duck on this occasion...

Having a pub games enthusiast as thoroughly 'enthusiastic' as John Penny for a local, is surely a blessing for the licensees of the Rose & Crown. His enthusiasm extends to being a strong advocate of the local skittles tradition of course, but he's also a keen supporter of pubs in general through his writing (under a pseudonym) for The Visitor magazine, as well as other local beer and pub related publications such as CAMRA's Giant Dongle newsletter. I've heard he also enjoys the odd pint for the cause...

John has also turned his hand to making numerous high quality games such as the 'Norfolk Twister' shown here in the bar of the Rose & Crown. Fellow Pub Games enthusiast Arthur Taylor, author of 'Played At The Pub', is shown here spinning the game with the licensee (photo c/o John Penny). John has made quite a few of these old, traditional games of chance over the years, a game that is now extremely rare in its home county of Norfolk, yet surprisingly common in Johns home county of Dorset!

John and myself spin for something or other, probably the next round of beers