The Hurdler, Stamford, Lincolnshire (updated October 2020)

The Hurdler is one of only two classic estate pubs which remain in the upmarket town of Stamford (the other being the nearby Danish Invader, the Drum & Monkey and Northfields both having closed since this was originally posted in 2012) A large, open-plan locals pub with a central bar that I've no doubt would have been multi-room originally. Built to serve the needs of the post war housing which surrounds it, and like most pubs that are firmly embedded in their local communities, the Hurdler is a sport and games pub through and through. In fact the pub is named after a local sporting hero David Cecil (Lord Burghley), gold medallist at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. A sprightly hurdling gentleman on the pubs swinging sign commemorates his athletic prowess.

Cribbage, Darts, Dominoes, and Pool are the principal league games played at the Hurdler today, but the pub also field a team in Stamfords unique Pushpenny League. The league is currently running with just six pubs/clubs, a parlous state for any pub game league to be in. Let's hope the pubs of Stamford can keep this game going where others have sadly fallen by the wayside.

Update October 2020

Another sparse post from the early days of this blog, featuring a pub that I've been meaning to revisit for some time. In fact I have revisited The Hurdler a couple of times since then, just not with a camera in tow. So, what's new at The Hurdler?

Well it's had a bit of a refurb, though nothing too drastic. In fact I didn't notice any changes at all until I compared these photographs, so think more spruced-up than knocked about. As seems to be the case throughout their estate, Everards have ditched their familiar green livery for a slightly less 'corporate' blue, though thankfully they haven't gone the whole hog and painted everything pastel grey!

The most noticeable changes to the Hurdler on this most recent visit were the alterations for social distancing. The most notable being the ugly (and now entirely unnecessary given that the rules have changed to table service only!) Perspex screens across the bar servery, as well as a bit of floor tape around the sensibly spaced tables. The way things are looking at the moment, these are here to stay, though hopefully not for ever. It's a roomy pub inside anyway and with plenty of front and back garden space, so social distancing was hardly an issue on the late-Summer afternoon when I popped in for a pint. The recent 10pm curfew and enforced table service had been confirmed that day and was much more of a concern to the licensees. Wet-led estate pubs like this do more trade than most in the run-up to last orders, and the feeling was that this will hit their crucial weekend trade very hard indeed.

As you can see from these images, the Hurdler might be regarded as Stamfords premier games pub. In far better times than these the pub fields teams in all the local leagues, with match nights occurring throughout the week. Womens Darts and Pushpenny feature on Tuesday nights, Pool and Cribbage on Wednesday, with Mens Darts and Dominoes filling the Thursday slot. Needless to say, none of these leagues are currently operating, a particularly tough situation for pubs like the Hurdler which rely on the steady weekday trade that games bring throughout the year, particularly during the Winter months when the attractive garden to the rear of the pub is out of action.

I'm not entirely sure whether Darts and Pool were still being played at the Hurdler at the time I visited. Certainly not on a quiet midweek afternoon with just a small group of locals holding court near the bar. With table service now the rule, even these non-contact games are effectively barred from the pub, putting the three Dartboards at the Hurdler out of use for the time being.

The following images are from the original post back in 2012. At this time there were a couple of Pushpenny Boards in the bar, and of course the local Stamford Pushpenny League was up and running from around Autumn until early Summer. The league is currently defunct owing to social distancing rules, but has shrunk even further since my original blog post. The 2019/20 league fixtures (above) show the league running with just four teams from three pubs in the town, which by any standards represents a traditional pub game on the verge of extinction, a sad situation given that the Stamford League is one of only two for the game of Pushpenny in the country. Whether it will survive this latest setback remains to be seen.

These two Pushpenny Boards were kept in the bar when I visited back in 2012. Needless to say there's no sign of them now. The nearest was in regular use, made from a single piece of Mahogany and with a beautifully polished surface which is typical of these locally made competition boards. The other board is a little more workmanlike, and is in fact the reverse of a commercial Shove Ha'penny board (below). The principle difference between a Pushpenny Board and the more common Shove Ha'penny is the spacing of the nine beds, significantly wider in Pushpenny to accommodate the larger Pennies used in the Stamford game. The sloping run-off at the rear of this Pushpenny board can be clearly seen in the image above, a feature rarely seen in Shove Ha'penny but typical of these handmade Stamford boards.

Alma Tavern, Worcester

I guess it's inevitable that as the COVID lockdown was gradually eased, and businesses of all kinds finally allowed to reopen, some would question why pubs seemed to have been favoured ahead of other, perhaps equally deserving businesses and resources. In fact we know that there are some who question why pubs have been allowed to reopen at all given the potential for issues around alcohol and social distancing.

At this point I feel duty bound to disclose a personal interest. I love pubs! Pubs are important to me, perhaps more-so than they are to most regular pubgoers. Certainly I much prefer to drink my beer and cider in the mixed social environment of a pub rather than at home. But I also appreciate the way that pubs at their best are important social hubs, of huge importance to their locals as well as visitors like myself, and often the wider community through events and the huge amount of charitable fundraising that many pubs engage in. Of course if you don't like or use pubs, or merely view them as just another licensed restaurant option, this love of the pub might be a little difficult to understand.

Because pubs are not just about serving alcohol for profit, despite what certain sections of the popular press might have us believe. For some, particularly the elderly, they may be their only lifeline with a genuine shared social experience, and even those of us in a more privileged position still rely on the neutral space pubs provide for a genuinely 'open' social experience rather than a self-selecting, perhaps even insular one. Where else can you rub shoulders with such a wide social mix with the implicit understanding that conversation is not only possible, but often expected. Individually, pubs are special for all manner of reasons, but collectively the pub as a concept is special for entirely social reasons, something I believe may have become apparent to even the most casual of pubgoers during this dreadful pandemic. We can drink beer anywhere, the pub experience is only truly open to us at the pub.

Which brings me nicely to the Alma Tavern in Worcester and its hugely popular mascot Alma Bear. Along with all the nations pubs and clubs, the Alma closed its doors in May for what many of us believed at the time would be a relatively short time. As we now know, it would be months before a light appeared at the end of the lockdown tunnel. What has also become apparent is that many pubs, the Alma included, didn't just sit back on their laurels waiting for things to get better. A takeaway food and off-license service helped maintain a semblance of normality for many regular pubgoers, and many pubs have strived to maintain their connection with the local community through online events and charitable fundraising. Licensee of the Alma Tavern Will Bradley went one step further, taking to the streets as his alter-ego, Alma Bear!

While I was enjoying a pint and taking these photographs at the Alma Tavern recently, I was a little perplexed at the the almost constant tooting of car horns outside on the busy Droitwich road. That was until the barman helpfully explained about Alma Bear, the pubs locally famous furry mascot. Alma Bear was originally created by the licensee to help boost interest in the pubs Saturday Kids Craft Club, as well as being a popular attraction for childrens parties and the like. With the lockdown knocking all these initiatives on the head, Will decided that everybody could do with a bit of a cheer-up, taking Alma Bear 'on the road' with regular walkabouts in and around Worcester for socially distanced meet and greets. So Alma Bear was outside the pub that day, working the Saturday afternoon crowd, all thumbs-up and waves to great appreciation from the many travellers in and out of the city. Talk about popular! Practically everyone was waving back, huge smiles all round, a real tonic in these difficult times. This is what pubs at their best are all about, and this is why those of us who love them have welcomed the return of pub-going with such enthusiasm.

In common with almost all the pubs I've been to since reopening, the Alma has probably never looked better. De-cluttered and clean as a whistle, it's an attractive pub to be in even with the ubiquitous bar screens and social distancing signage. Another feature that's common to pubs at this time is the removal of the Dartboard. I doubt there's much of an issue around actually playing the game, more that it just doesn't fit in to the current social distancing regime where we're duty bound to choose a table and stay there as much as practicable. Televised sport is still on offer though, as is good food and a couple of decent real ales.

League Skittles and the pubs Skittle Alley are currently out of action too, but still serving a useful purpose as the pubs well-equipped function room, due to be pressed into service for the afternoon Football when I visited, part of managing the pub to help reduce crowding in the main bar areas.

Beauchamp Arms, Malvern, Worcestershire

The sprawl of settlements that lie at the base of the spectacular Malvern Hills, and the many pubs thereof, have become a happy hunting ground for us in recent years. Pubs of all shapes and sizes, well-patronised by locals it would seem, some with a good reputation for the beer and/or food, and perhaps surprisingly for such a touristy area, not all of them are dull, managed, food and family venues.

Top of the list for us is the very highly regarded Nags Head on the edge of the historic Great Malvern Spa Town. A really great beer pub in my experience, with good food in the adjacent restaurant, a tidy beer garden, and a true 'pubby' atmosphere in the low-beamed somewhat labyrinthine interior. Yes, it attracts a slightly upmarket clientele, but this is a pub that’s anything but exclusive, in fact it's one of my (many!) desert island pubs. Down the hill at Barnards Green you’ll find The Morgan, a regular Hereford Pale Ale and Cheese & Onion Roll stop for me. It's a locals pub that also attracts the tourists like ourselves (including the odd Morgan car enthusiast I'm sure). Perhaps a smidgen more earthy than the Nags, but a pub you’d be more than happy to take your mum to, particularly in the Summer months when the beautifully maintained patio garden really comes into its own.

Which brings me to the largely residential area located to the north of Link Common, a more urban, or at least suburbun part of the wider Malvern community centred on the smaller Malvern Link rail station. The pubs in this area are of particular interest to me, being somethat less touristy, and a fair bit more 'Darts & Dominoes' in character. Practically all of these pubs are traditional 'locals' with a strong pub games interest, and this includes a cluster of venues for the local Mens and Ladies Skittles leagues.

The Beauchamp Arms certainly fits this mould. A fairly typical, largely unspoilt town centre boozer situated within a row of shops and other local amenities. It's also one of the closest pubs to the rail station, though equally accessible via a pleasant walk across the common from Great Malvern. An attractive, grade II listed building to the front, a pair of shallow bay windows flanking the entrance being the pubs principle historic feature. Inside, the pub has been opened-out at some point to a single bar area, though it's easy enough to discern the original three room layout from its 19th century origins as a Showell's Brewery pub.

Bar areas to the left and right feature original bench seating which follows the line of those big bay windows. Note too that the original heating pipes that would have kept drinkers warm in the winter are still in situ below this seating (right), a once common feature of basic bar rooms like this one. A number of Bell Pushes (above) also survive in what would have originally been the Lounge or Smoke Room, though now unused of course. This highly civilised aspect of bar service has now almost entirely vanished from pubs, though ironically table service is now back in vogue under the current social distancing rules. These bell pushes would have been used to summon a waiter or other member of staff for table service in the 'posher' of the three original rooms, usually incurring a small service charge for the privelage.

Today the Beauchamp is an entirely wet-led pub, a place for a chat over a pint, as well as the pub staples of games, televised sport, and until the recent national shut-down, a growing reputation for live music in the function room/skittle alley at the rear of the pub.

That almost all of the pubs in the Malvern area have now re-opened following the lockdown is heartening to see, but pubs like the Beauchamp will take a long time to get back to anything like normal under the current rules and restrictions. Bar rooms that would normally be alive with the rattle and hum of Darts, Dominoes, and Cribbage play are inevitably struggling with the social-distancing rules. Traditional pub games that are the lifeblood of community locals like the Beauchamp are exactly those which are deemed too risky, and therefore out of bounds. I very much look forward to a return visit to the Malverns area in the near future, ideally in happier, more socially interactive times when the Beauchamp Arms and other community locals in the area are free to trade at their very best.

The function room to the rear of the pub is entirely self-contained for entertainment of all kinds. There's a Pool Table, Dartboard, separate bar, and the kind of Skittle Alley that can be packed away so as to avoid it being a tripping hazard when not in use. The slatted playing surface is of course permanent, but the left-hand retaining wall is removable and stored behind a set of doors which conceal the actual business end of the alley (below) when not required.

The Beauchamp is active in just about all the local games leagues, including those for Mens and Ladies Skittles, all now mothballed of course until next Summer at the very earliest. It looks as if the Malvern & District Cribbage League may have just managed to wrap up competition ahead of pubs and clubs closing in March, sadly not all leagues were quite so lucky.

Plough Inn, Hereford

When pubs were forced to close way back in March, there was a great deal of uncertainty around how, or indeed 'if' many of them would ever find a way to open again. Even now, and allowing for the ongoing threat of local lockdowns, some pubs have of course not reopened. Sadly some may never reopen. Of those that have, it's far from certain how many are trading at anything like a profitable level, which is worrying given the widely held belief that things may take a turn for the worse, particularly as Winter approaches and beer gardens start to lose their appeal.

From a customer perspective, safety is probably the biggest single issue determining whether people are happy to return to the pub. Everyone deals with risk differently, and it's perhaps inevitable that some are putting caution ahead of the resumption of their drinking pleasure at this time. Perhaps the biggest uncertainty for pub-lovers like myself ahead of reopening was how the necessity for social-distancing was going to work in such a highly social environment. Just how good an experience would going to the pub actually be when so much of the casual human interaction that makes the pub special is effectively denied to us! Well many pubs have been open for a few weeks now, and those of us who feel safe to do so have had a good opportunity to see how things look under the new guidelines.

I have to say that for the most part it's been an entirely positive experience. Of well over a dozen venues that I've visited recently, from village inns, to town-centre locals and micropubs, the systems in place have worked well. Customers are for the most part following the rules, and it has been possible to socialise, albeit at more of a distance than most of us would like. Of course traditional games of all types, and the leagues that support local competition have sadly all-but disappeared from pubs for the time being.

Most pubs are still very quiet of course, and whilst the media continue to hawk for advertising with the usual sensationalist reporting around anything to do with alcohol, examples of over-crowded pubs and people ignoring the rules are few and far between in my experience. Most people seem to understand that if pubs are to remain open, they really do need to follow the rules no matter how onerous they are, or what their opinion of them might be. This very welcome 'Indian Summer' of pub-going remains a fragile thing that could end at any time, which makes it doubly important that we get out there and safely enjoy the pub experience while it lasts.

One thing I haven't had much of a chance to test under the current restrictions is the ease, or otherwise, of finding new material for this blog. I think that many of us envisaged there would be quite strict controls on personal movement within pubs. Certainly no hanging around at the bar or wandering about between socially distanced groups. With all that's happened, and all the changes and preparations required to reopen safely, how would already stressed licensees and bar staff react to a polite request to take a few photographs in their pub, perhaps even explore parts of the building that are currently not in use? I have to say, I was expecting to receive, and fully prepared to accept a firm but fair 'No!' in this regard.

But that's to forget that most licensees work in the hospitality industry for a very good reason. They are, for the most part, eminently hospitable people! Of the hundreds of pubs and clubs I've visited over the years, only a couple of licensees have flatly refused to allow me to take pictures, and the vast majority are more than happy to show-off their pub, and keen to chat about the trade and their own part in it. It helps of course that I choose my time carefully, usually aiming to visit at the least busy times of the day when staff are less rushed and there's less likelihood of startling the locals with my camera. As an aside, this is why so many of the photos on this blog are of seemingly empty pubs.

The Plough certainly wasn't empty when I popped in recently, it's just that it was an absolute scorcher of a day in Hereford, and the garden has many shady and attractive corners for a cool pint and a natter. It's in the garden that you'll also find the pubs creeper-clad Skittle Alley (right), one of the principle reasons for my visit of course.

Now the first time I attempted to photograph the skittle alley and interior of the Plough was around 5 years ago. Unfortunately, on that occasion new licensees were in the middle of moving in to the pub, and in no position to give me a tour, so I thought it best not to ask. I took a quick photo of the then creeper-free skittle alley (left) and determined to return another day. So given the current difficult situation, with many pubs only recently reopened and finding their feet, I was just a little more apprehensive than usual when I finally got to return to the Plough. I really needn't have been though, because the welcome was warm, and the licensees happy to accommodate me and my roving camera.

The Plough sits a short way out from the town centre, a pub I'd describe as something between suburban community local, and modest roadhouse on the busy main road out of Hereford toward Wales. The current mock half-timbered corner pub was built in the 1930's by the Hereford and Tredegar Brewery replacing a much older Inn of the same name. The original layout of Public Bar and Smoke Room has been opened out somewhat, but still survives to the extent that two distinct areas remain. One of these is now effectively a games area with Pool Table, Dartboard, and until recently a traditional Quoits Board, now relocated to the skittle alley (see below). Sadly both the mens and ladies leagues for Quoits in Hereford folded quite recently, and I think it's been a while since the Plough fielded a team in competition anyway. Nevertheless, it's good to see that the board is still at the pub and available to play on request, though you'll have to bring your own Quoits as the pub currently has none available. The Plough seems to have had a skittle alley from before the 1930's rebuild, but whether the current one is in the same location I'm not entirely sure.

One thing that's become apparent to me over the last few weeks is that during the run-up to reopening, many licensees have not only prepared well for the new social distancing rules, but also taken the opportunity to give their pubs a bit of a spruce-up. This has clearly been the case at the Plough Inn which is immaculate throughout, and I'm pleased to say that the licensees were not merely happy to show me the pubs skittle alley, they were positively keen to show off their recent handiwork. It's often the case that during the off-season, skittle alleys can look a bit tatty and unloved, frequently used as storage space for garden furniture and the like. The alley at the Plough is as tidy as you'll find anywhere, freshly painted and ready for play whenever that might finally occur.

In much better times the Plough Inn field teams in the Hereford & District Invitation Skittles League, the towns principal skittles league for over 100 years. Seasoned skittlers might wonder why the Hereford league use 10-pin bowling style skittles rather than the usual stubby pins of the West Country game. Initially I thought this was a relatively modern convenience, reusing redundant pins from bowling alleys. Since then I've seen numerous team photos from the very earliest days of the league around the turn of the century which clearly feature this unique style of pin. It seems that Hereford folk just do things differently when it comes to pub games.

Coach and Horses, Derby

Derby and its pubs rarely feature on this blog, which is perhaps surprising given that it's been one of my most frequent pub and beer destinations of the last 30 years! The self-styled 'Real Ale Capital of England' has always had a good reputation for its traditional pubs, but came to prominence as a serious beer enthusiasts destination around the time the Brunswick Inn reopened as a specialist alehouse in the late 80's. This at a time when pubs that were truly free of tie and able to offer a wide range of beers were something of a rarity, the market dominated by regional and national brewers. The later addition of a micro-brewery at the Brunswick, as well as the revival of the nearby Alexandra Hotel by the Tynemill group (latterly Castle Rock) would only increase the attraction of Derby to boozy day-trippers like ourselves.

Derby remains an essential destination for beer and pub fans, boasting several small breweries and dozens of specialist beer pubs, as well as some great traditional old boozers if you know where to look. What it lacks though is a strong local or regional pub games tradition. Not an unusual state of affairs for one of the Midlands larger cities of course, traditional pub games continue to be pushed to the fringes of towns almost everywhere. It's disappointing nevertheless, particularly given that Derby lies at the heart of a skittles tradition which is still popular throughout much of the county as well as the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

I've searched long and hard in the Derby area for pubs where the local skittles game is still played, sadly with little success up to now. Long Alley Skittles, as it's known in this part of the East Midlands, remains predominantly an outdoor game, played through the summer months and in all weather conditions on alleys located on the car park or beer garden of pubs. Which is why the car park is often my first port of call when visiting pubs in an area where Long Alley is still played.

Because even where the game hasn't been played for a good few years, the distinctive metal 'frame' that the skittles stand on, and sometimes the foot-sized depression which marks the throwing point, can often still be found in the grounds of the pub. Not so in Derby though! I've yet to find a single pub where an original skittle alley survives, least of all one where the game is still actually played. That is until my most recent visit to the city, albeit this is not in fact a surviving old skittle alley. Rarer still, this is an entirely new one!

The Coach & Horses is a large locals pub situated just a short walk from the town centre in the leafy suburb of Chester Green. This part of Derby is probably best known to beer enthusiasts for its micropub, The Little Chester Alehouse, the first of its kind in Derby, and as it happens the first micropub I ever visited shortly after it opened in 2012. There are one or two other pubs nearby, though sadly the nearby Garden City appears to have closed for good, a pub that had an example of the rare traditional pub game Ring The Bull. So the Coach & Horses fights the corner for more traditionally styled pubs in the area, a substantial two-roomer with the pub staples of Darts and Pool in the smaller public bar, and a busy schedule of league Dominoes in the plusher lounge bar.

It's not at all clear whether skittles was ever played at the Coach & Horses prior to this most recent revival, or indeed whether there was a Derby league for the game, but the pub now fields a team in the Belper & District Skittles League, probably the nearest Summer league available to the pub. In fact it was a casual match at one of the venues in the Belper league that inspired locals to set up a skittle alley at the pub in the first place.

At first glance you might think there was a long history of skittles play at the Coach & Horses given the evidence of not one, but three separate 'frames' on and around the car park at the rear of the pub. The truth is that none of these are more than a few years old, and the game has only been established at the pub for a few seasons. The diamond-shaped concrete frame shown below, and the small indentation in the tarmac below that, mark the position of the first skittle alley created at the pub. For reasons known only to the pubs keen skittlers, a new frame was then created further out on the car park, the position of this one indicated by a diamond of steel circles set into the tarmac. These frames are necessary in Long Alley Skittles to give a firm flat footing for wooden pins that are taller than in almost all other skittles traditions, and somewhat top-heavy as a result.

The most recent, and presumably final position of the skittle alley at the Coach and Horses is on a purpose-built raised platform at the edge of the car park (left & below) seen here during the leagues off-season, a convenient home for some of the pubs outdoor seating. This slightly elevated position is much less prone to interruption from vehicles coming and going at the pub, but it also affords the opportunity to install a permanent ball-return pipe down the length of the adjacent wall. Note that the alley has been christened 'CJ's Alley' in memory of a popular local at the pub who passed away recently.

This new alley had only recently been completed when I visited the pub early last year, and I fully intended to return and observe a league match when things got going in the Summer. Unfortunately time, and the national lockdown that has forced all pubs to close and most league games to cease, got the better of me. Pubs are now reopening, but it's unlikely that social games like skittles will resume until next year at the earliest. When skittles does eventually resume, I'll certainly be aiming to revisit the Coach and Horses for a pint or two of the excellent Draught Bass, and a ringside seat at the new Skittle Alley one fine Summer evening.