The Barrels, Hereford

Some people will tell you that what makes a pub 'good' is the availability of good beer, ideally a wide variety of it from small and obscure breweries. Some might even say that beer alone defines the quality of a pub and that everything else is secondary, maybe even detrimental to their singular enjoyment of malt & hop. Food, families, televised sport, youngsters, dogs, locals treating the place like it's their local! These are all reasons that people give for pubs being less 'good' than they'd like. Trust me, I've heard them!

Each to their own of course, and pubs at their best may even succeed in being all things to all men, but I'm certainly not one of those who judge a pub purely on the quality and/or variety of beers available. For me, the essence of a good pub is not to be found in a row of bewilderingly labelled handpumps dispensing a lottery of beer styles and novelty flavour. For me it's more likely to be the row of locals propping up the bar, the quorum of drinkers shuffling Dominoes on a Sunday afternoon, the licensee with the time and inclination to chat with a stranger rather than spend the evening cultivating an impenetrable local clique. It's these things that make for a good pub in my opinion. These and many other things, and good beer of course.

Without the sociable chat and shared experience that comes with people who are prepared to engage with us over a pint, a pub can be little more than a functional and impersonal drinks retailer, a restaurant, a mini-beer festival, a 'geeky', mono-cultural experience. Which is not to say that these are in any way bad experiences, just different, not pub experiences in my view.

Some of the best pub-going experiences I've had in recent years have been those where I've popped in for a Guinness in a slightly dodgy but warmly welcoming back-street boozer. Pubs which may be entirely bereft of real ale or craft beer. Pubs which may be a little bit rough and ready, yet brim-full of vibrant, interesting, often slightly drunk locals, happy to talk and laugh, happy to share, maybe even happy to sing! It's this easy, sociable mix which is often missing from pubs in the 21st century in my experience. An optional extra rather than the main feature of pub-going.

Of course when a pub is at it's very best, the beer and bonhomie come together as a perfect package. The kind of perfection in pubs like the award-winning Barrels in Hereford. The cosy front bar of this flagship Wye Valley Brewery pub is the kind of place you're unlikely to escape from without being drawn into the conversation. For enthusiasts of proper pubs like myself, it's how all pubs should be, the local we all wish we had on our doorstep. Run with great care and more than a little love by both the brewery owners and licensee, and loved in turn by the eclectic mix of locals and visitors who beat a path to the Barrels and help make it not only one of the best pubs in Hereford, but certainly up there with the very best in the country. It also sells a very good pint of beer.

Like all the very best pubs, the Barrels hosts a wide range of activities in addition to the basics of offering a great pint. This includes regular music sessions, and a strong line-up of traditional games, including Cribbage, Darts, Pool, Skittles, and Table Football, with representation in several local leagues.

The fine Skittle Alley is located on the upper floor of outbuildings which overlooks a pleasant courtyard drinking area to the rear of the pub. Several teams call the Barrels home (left), with Winter and Summer competition in the Hereford & District Invitation Skittles League.

Note the use of 10-pin bowling 'skittles' at the Barrels, the standard for league play in Hereford, though slightly unusual for skittles in the South West of England.

More Darts Images

Vintage Darts medal by Pinches Medallions of London (Est. 1840)

In common with most of the more traditional pub games, the bar-room staple of Darts is undoubtedly in decline. Whilst this mirrors the more general decline in pubs and pub-going of the late 20th century onward, the game is also disappearing from those town centre and rural pubs which survive, and in some cases thrive. This is particularly so where food has taken over from drinking as a pubs main focus, and it's also probably true that pubs and bars in the very centre of town are wary of having sharp objects thrown about at the weekend!

This situation would have been hard to believe only a few decades ago, at a time when Darts had made a very successful transition from pub to televised sport, and a pub's Darts Board would rarely have been out of use. It's worth remembering though that Darts itself would have usurped other once popular pub games such as Indoor Quoits and Shove Ha'penny. Indeed for younger drinker like myself in the 80's and 90's, Pool was the game of choice, the cool tinge of Americana being far more attractive than the native Arrows.

Darts clings on though, and is as popular as ever in the more traditional, though sadly dwindling backstreet boozers and social clubs. The strong association which many feel between Darts and proper pubs mean that a board may still be considered an essential part of an otherwise radical modernisation of a struggling pub. The Three Crowns in Oakham underwent just such a refurbishment last year, but in common with most of the Steamin' Billy estate, space for a Darts Board was found, shown here reflected in an old Shipstones Brewery mirror.

The original Steamin' Billy pub was a conversion of farm buildings near the village of Stoughton in Leicestershire. The Cow & Plough quickly established itself as the premier real ale pub in Leicestershire, and gave owners Barry & Liz Lount the opportunity to display some of their extensive collection of pub and brewery related ephemera. The Cow & Plough has evolved over the years, extended to the front from the original core, and now as popular for the attached restaurant as the traditionally styled tap room.

The original bar area has been brightened up in recent years (above), and includes a Darts Board and a pair of vintage Automatic Darts Scorers (below), probably manufactured by Bissets of London. This type of scorer is still quite common in pubs, though more often a modern(ish) electronic version. By dialling in your score, the three numbers above count down automatically from 365. Simple enough arithmetic on a chalk board, but it's surprising how many people are put off playing the game seriously because of the tricky subtraction involved.

The Darts Board at the White Lion in Oakham, Rutland is set at a slight angle due to the shape of the building and the location of a piano. The pub was once a hotbed of Darts play in the county, with several boards dotted around the bar area. They were certainly well-used at the time when the pub team became the National Darts Association Champions for 1970 in a competition sponsored by The People newspaper.

An assortment of 'Arrows', including an older style of chunky Brass bodied Marksman Super League Dart, and the thinner modern equivalents formed of Tungsten alloy. Tungsten Darts are the norm for play now, the thinner bodies being easier to 'stack' in the treble 20, whilst maintaining the weight required for a good throw. Brewers were as keen to advertise in the Darts arena as any other pub game, and the two branded Darts sets featured here are adorned with the famous harp logo of Guinness, and the Red Squirrel of the long closed Ansells Brewery in Aston, Birmingham (formerly the logo of Birmingham's Holt Brewery).

One of several Darts Boards in the Function/Games room of the Herdsman pub, Hereford

Two Gloucester Pubs

The Plough Inn is a welcome survivor in an area which has lost many traditional boozers in recent years. Walking out to the Plough from the town centre you can't help but be impressed and saddened in equal measures by the impressive tiled exteriors of the Vauxhall Inn and Robin Hood Inn, both long since closed and converted to alternate use.

The Plough has a much humbler exterior than these two, a simple rendered brick corner local on a back-street of a typical terraced residential area. The kind of pub which is being lost to the pressure for development and changing public tastes at a truly alarming rate throughout the country. It's a fine pub for the old-fashioned pastimes of drinking, conversation, and perhaps a game or two But sadly it's a little off the beaten track, and very much off the radar for many drinkers as there's no real ale, no craft-keg specialities, only traditional cider from Somerset producer Thatchers. That's a great shame as it's well worth spending time in pubs like the Plough Inn, even if it means taking a short break from your hobby.

The Darts Board is the main gaming feature of the Plough, viewed above through the servery (and reflected in a mirror) in the main bar area at the front of the building. On Sunday lunchtimes it's the Shove Ha'penny which comes into play, the fine smooth slate of a type common to the West Country taking pride of place in the smaller back bar. The highly polished and smoothed coins are available from behind the bar, and an angle-poise lamp provides the illumination needed to determine accurately the lie of the Ha'pennies during a game.

Summertime is the off-season for Skittles in Gloucester and elsewhere in the West Midlands and West Country. With holidays booked and outdoor pursuits to the fore, it's much harder to get a team up in the summer so most leagues leave the alleys to private functions and corporate team-building events. As a result skittle alleys in the West Country are unusually quiet in the summer, but still often available for a casual game with friends.

The chances of a game are increased twofold at the Englands Glory pub in Gloucester, which has the slightly unusual distinction of having a very fine double alley. The Gloucester City Skittles League remains well supported with close to 200 teams competing in the various divisions and regions of the league.

The view from the Sticker Up's end (above) shows that these alleys are all timber in construction. Many skittle alleys in the area are either painted or resin covered concrete, or feature an iron or steel 'frame' for the pins to sit on at the end of the wooden floored alley itself. A refuge exists between the two alleys for the Sticker Up, the lads and lasses who perform the all-important job of re-setting the pins and returning the balls down the integral side-chutes (below).

The Vaga Tavern, Hereford

Alongside the extensive free-trade supplied throughout the West Midlands and beyond, Herefordshire's Wye Valley Brewery has a small but growing estate of excellent traditional pubs. Good news for anyone who, like me, greatly appreciate their pale, hoppy, and wonderfully refreshing Hereford Pale Ale (HPA) on a hot summers day, or the superb rich Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout when it's not so warm. I've been great a fan of Wye Valley ales since the brewery's early days when based in a stable block at the rear of the then Lamb Inn in Hereford. Subsequently re-named The Barrels, this is still essentially the brewery tap even though the brewery has re-located, and a must-visit ale house for beer fans and pub enthusiasts alike.

The Vaga Tavern is one of several recent additions to the Wye Valley estate, and another which is well worth seeking out for a pint in the city. Located a short walk from the centre of town, and perhaps best approached via a pleasant walk alongside the river Wye rather than attempting to negotiate the labyrinthine streets of the Hunderton Estate which the pub serves. It's a terrific community local, an ideal fit for the brewery who's mission statement includes a desire to champion '... pubs as important parts of local communities'. An excellent sentiment, and one worthy of raising a pint of HPA to when next you visit Hereford.

Local pub games are very well represented at the Vaga in the shape of a very tidy Skittle Alley projecting off the public bar. A Quoits Board is also in use, though currently only in the Wednesday night Womens League due to a mix-up with scheduling the mens game. League fixtures for Darts and Pool are also firm favourites with the locals at the Vaga Tavern.

Some Western Skittles Images

This fine old alley is located on the upper floor of an extension at the rear of the Black Lion in Hereford. The pub itself is a venerable 16th century inn, strategically placed near the older crossing of the River Wye, and despite having a strong focus on dining these days retains much of its character and charm as a drinking venue.

A slightly unusual feature of the nine-pin game in Hereford is the use of 10-pin bowling pins as opposed to the usual stubby skittles found throughout the West Midlands and West Country. Traditionalists may frown on this but they do the job perfectly well, and even look the part when stripped of their white plastic coating.

Why is it that the Hereford & District Invitation Skittles League went over to this style of pin? On a day when I visited several pubs with alleys in the area, no-one I spoke to seemed to know the reason, and the league website gives no clues which suggests it's been this way for quite a good few years. Perhaps they were easier or cheaper to source than the expensive traditional pins, and it may be that modestly priced cast-offs from the ten-pin game are effectively 're-cycled' for skittle play in the area.

Thomas Fattorini (1864-1934) was the head of a Birmingham silversmiths which has a long association with producing medals, trophies and plaques, including many for league and cup pub game competition such as the one shown here. This sterling silver and gilded medal dates from 1930, and was originally attached to a short watch chain by the same maker. The game is of course nine-pin skittles of the type played predominantly in the South West of the country. Who it was originally presented to, and for what is not known as the back has not been engraved in this case. The company of Fattorini continues to this day, and still produces a range of trophies and medals for games and sport.

The alley shown above, carpeted for use as a function room when not in use for skittles, is located at the rear of the Somerset Arms in Cheltenhams Leckhampton area. The Somerset is one of the more traditional drinking pubs in Cheltenham, located on a backstreet near the Bath Road, and as such needs a little searching out. You'll be rewarded with a very welcoming locals pub and a decent pint of ale, as well as the now rare sight of a working Pinball Table at the rear of the bar area.

The eight lockable doors at the rear of alley (right) hold the skittle sets used by the various teams which play from the pub, currently numbering over half a dozen in the Cheltenham Skittles League. The alley record of 69 (below), held by Wayne Hyde, is recorded on a beam over the alley.

Sir Frank Whittle, Lutterworth (closed!)

In the current climate of rapid change and decline in the pub market, it's inevitable that I'll occasionally feature pubs on this blog which have subsequently gone on to close, sometimes temporarily, sometimes for good. It's not often I feature a pub which has already closed though. I always try to accentuate the positive in a pub whenever possible so what would be the point of that!

By posting about the Sir Frank Whittle, a pub sold to the Midlands Cooperative Society by brewers Marston's, and subsequently closed despite strong local opposition, it's perhaps hard to find the positives in yet another example of market forces riding roughshod over local feeling. But I feel it's important to accentuate the positives of what is essentially a sad, if all too common tale. That way people might have a better understanding of just what it is we're losing when community locals like the Sir Frank Whittle close forever.

Because sadly there are still far too many people who consider themselves 'campaigners' for the traditions of beer and pub-going who just don't see the value of pubs like the Sir Frank Whittle. Pubs which don't offer a bewildering array of rare micro-brewery beers, or the latest novelty craft keg specialities, but simply deliver the goods for the locals who use them in an unfussy and unpretentious way. A pub like the Sir Frank Whittle may not be the most exciting proposition for drinkers who view pubs as just mini-beer festivals, but in my view it's pubs like this which represent the very best of our traditional drinking culture. A culture where the beer is the tasty alcoholic lubricant of a good social experience, an accompaniment to a good night out, not the whole point of it.

The Sir Frank Whittle was a two-room 1970's new-build estate pub of a type which was once so common in England as to be utterly unremarkable, even (or particularly) to those who called themselves 'locals'. Originally named The Balloon, the interior was typically clean, modern, and functional. No-frills, a pub very much of its time but certainly none the worse for it. Built for a purpose, and that purpose was as an important social hub for the extensive new-build housing which surrounds it, and which even now continues to be built on the north side of Lutterworth.

The Sir Frank Whittle would have been a true drinking, socialising, and gaming pub. The 'public' equivalent of the many private members social and political clubs which were once also at the heart of working class communities. It's pubs like this which brewery owners Marston's built their Midlands empire on, but sadly Marston's have fallen out of love with community drinking pubs. For many years now they, and many other large-scale brewers and pub owning companies like them, have abjectly failed to invest in the fabric of pubs like this, and in so doing failed to look after the trade which would maintain them as viable businesses. Marston's quite obviously see little future in pubs like this, instead preferring to milk their ever declining trade whilst building new family dining venues to replace them. These soulless pseudo-pubs are springing up everywhere now, often on the side of retail parks, and at the expense of hundreds of historic locals and community pubs like the Sir Frank Whittle. It's the total-shopping/leisure future apparently, but not one I have any great appetite for.

As an aside, it's hard to imagine where a traditional brewery like the one Marston's run fits into this bland new pub future, where the family dining experience is the primary focus, and parents are increasingly frowned upon for having an alcoholic drink in the presence of their children!

The interior of the Sir Frank Whittle was extensively refurbished by the last licensees just a few years ago, and whilst obviously lacking the olde-worlde charm of pre-war buildings, the result was an attractive and comfortable pub which most people would enjoy drinking or dining in. Sadly, Marston's refused to do a similar job on the exterior of the pub, a necessity which would have gone a long way to attracting new or lapsed trade, and possibly even securing the future of the pub. But that was clearly not Marston's intention. As I've already said, this once proud and highly regarded brewer has fallen out of love with pubs.

When I visited, the beer was in excellent condition and the pub beautifully maintained. This was of course a skittles pub, the table equally well-maintained and only recently retired from league play. The licensee was sad but resigned to the closure of the pub, and had already made plans for the future. It was particularly sad to enjoy such a good pint in an attractive pub knowing the builders would be along within days to rip it all out, another good pub lost.

Not the last time it will see service, plans were already in hand to relocate the skittles table elsewhere, but certainly one of the last 9's at the Sir Frank Whittle before the pub closed forever.

Quoits in Herefordshire

In common with other pub and club games such as the various indoor skittle variants, and the now extinct Suffolk version of Quoits, it's likely that Indoor Quoits developed directly from, and was probably played alongside the hugely popular outdoor version of the game/sport. Quoits was once played throughout England, Scotland, and Wales, and can still be found to this day in a few areas of northern and eastern England, and parts of Wales. A strenuous outdoor pursuit which involves the hurling of heavy iron rings over varying distances to land as close to, or ideally over a short spike projecting from a 'bed' of clay. Not a game that lends itself to the chill of Winter then.

Hence the development of a number of indoor versions, a way to keep your hand in and satisfy the urge for competition when the outdoor game held no appeal. The only version of the indoor game which can still be found in pubs and clubs to this day is the one played in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and the Welsh Borders. Known variously as Step Quoits, Table Quoits, Dobbers, or just plain Quoits, this game can still be found in the more traditional pubs and clubs of the region. Quoits is still played at league level throughout this area, but with most players tending to be in the upper age-range, and ever more of the traditional locals where the game finds a natural home closing for good, the game's future is far from secure.

The Quoits 'board' shown above is resident at the Rose & Crown in the leafy suburbs of Hereford city. This pub is now one of Greene King's 'Meet & Eat' venues, and could quite easily have lost its games area entirely during the recent refurbishment. This concrete 'board' is entirely typical of those found throughout Hereford and further afield, although wooden boards like the one featured here are also common. The colour scheme is traditional, though not every board follows this pattern, indeed the board I have is made from plainly varnished ply wood. The welded steel frame which the board sits on is also a standard feature of the game in Hereford, the netting designed to prevent too many errant Quoits landing on the floor.

The basis of the game is very simple, and lends itself well to both mens and womens leagues. Four rubber Quoits (above) are thrown from a distance similar to a Darts throw, the aim being to land the Quoits either directly over the Peg or Hob (5 points), fall squarely in the sunken inner ring (2 points), or outer ring (1 point). The Quoits have a black side and a white side, and they must land white-side up to score. In play, men seem to go for the risky peg shot (more likely to flip onto the non-scoring black side, or bounce off the board entirely if missed), whilst women prefer a more steady accumulation of points by landing their quoits in the rings. A major part of the skill in this game is using subsequent throws to nudge previously thrown quoits out of the outer ring and into the higher scoring inner zone.

Scoring indoor quoits takes many forms, but in the Hereford league it is similar to the game of Darts, ie. run down from a starting score of 101. Singles and Doubles games are played as part of a league match, with the usual array of cup knock-out matches and competitions for individuals running alongside the league.

The Hereford City Mens League runs through the Summer months, and is now down to just six participating teams. The Brewers Arms (which will feature in a future post on this blog) is the most recent addition, the Quiots Boards and team originally resident of the now closed, and much loved Cotterell Arms in the city.

These images show a Wednesday night Quoits match in the Hereford Womens League. The frosted glass window (above) looks in on the unspoilt Golden Lion pub on Grandstand Road. This pub is a friendly two bar local on the edge of the city, and comes complete with Aviary, Fishpool, and a fine old Skittle Alley at the rear. It's the kind of pub that's hard to see staying unspoilt forever, so I recommend a visit sooner rather than later, though there is no real ale, just cider.

Scoring the game whilst a baseball hatted Golden Lion (one of many in the bar) looks on from the Pool Table. With the match finished (the home team won), and a supper delivered to the ladies, the licensee has a few throws to keep her hand in (below). World Cup Football takes second place on the television tonight.