Pub Game Trophies & Medals - Pt.3

Medals and Trophies for pub games such as Darts, Skittles, and even Quoits are fairly common, in fact I come across far more of them than I'd ever want to buy. Every now and then I come across something a bit rarer though, like this enamelled roundel which would have been mounted on a trophy for the game of Rings.

Rings is a game I've yet to encounter outside of one or two specialist pub collections, nor would I unless I travelled to the Isle of Wight, Essex, or Ireland where the game is at its most popular. The Ventnor & District is the last remaining of two leagues on the Isle of Wight, the Essex branch of the game represented by a single league at the Silver Hall Social Club so far as I can tell. The real stronghold of the game though is in Ireland, where there are numerous leagues and a Ring-Board Academy to oversee competition. The image on this roundel represents the 15-hook version of Rings played in and around Ventnor (the Essex and Irish boards have 13 hooks), the aim being to hook small rubber rings, scoring in the manner of a Darts game.

These are fairly typical Darts fob medals of the mid-late 20th century. The one above features a simple enamelled image of a Dartboard, the one below attractively embellished with a set of silver Darts. The above medal is made from a base metal rather than silver so there's no hallmark to date it. Unfortunately it carries no engraving on the back either, so there's no clue as to who it was awarded to, or for what competition. I've also failed, as yet, to discover which 'Works Social Club' in Nottingham this league operated from, but presumably it was a large one to sustain what appears to have been a significant in-house competition.

By contrast, this hallmarked silver example by James Fenton of Birmingham, is a textbook example of what I hope to find on the back of all fob medals. The team from the Junction Arms, Upper Holloway in London were clearly the league winners of the St Dunstans Darts League in 1950. This was a London based league that had a strong association with the St Dunstans War Veterans charity. Touring exhibition matches by the famous St Dunstans Four helped fund the leagues charitable work, and a successor to this league continues today in the form of the Salisbury & District Darts League which supports the charity Wiltshire Sight. The Junction Arms is also still going strong, though under the name of the Oak & Pastor these days.

Quoits, as mentioned previously in this short series, was a hugely popular mens sport, played and spectated throughout the whole country at the time this medal was awarded in 1919. Perhaps hard to believe given that Quoits today has shrunk to a regional game that many people may never even have heard of let alone seen played, restricted as it is to just a handful of leagues in England, Scotland, and Wales. Needless to say, London isn't one of these regions, but it's an indication of just how widespread the game was at the time that there would have been separate associations managing the game for several different areas of the capital. This medal was made by JA Wylie & Co of Birmingham (and London), and was awarded to the League Championship Runner(s)-up.

I started this series of posts with a rather withering appraisal of the trophies and medals on offer to the winners of pub games leagues these days, and I'll finish with a fairly typical example of what's on offer. This hideously ostentatious trophy for Northamptonshire Table Skittles is in fact 35 years old, so practically 'vintage' in age. Nevertheless it's a good example of the cheap plastic and glitz that passes for 'silverware' today, a trophy that may look impressive on the trophy table at presentation evenings, but wouldn't look out of place at a fairground to be honest! Quite what the trophy shop were thinking when they ordered in these trophies is hard to guess, probably no further than the bottom line I'd imagine. Sadly this is often all that's available for cash-strapped leagues, though you'd think that a simple wooden plaque would be a better reward, and no more expensive. I'm certainly glad that I received a small cash prize as cup runner-up rather than one of these abominations. Oh for the days of silver fob medals! The Rushden & District Licensed Victuallers Association Skittles League is probably the forerunner of the current Rushden & District Skittles League.

Wellington Inn, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire

I would imagine that most regular pub-goers have their own personal favourite part of the country for the pubs and social drinking. A county or region where there's plenty of good pubs of course, but also where a good few of them meet, or at the very least approach their ideal of what really 'great' pubs should be. It may be that a certain area favours the beers and breweries they like, or perhaps the pubs are just that little bit less spoilt by 'progress'. Or maybe it's the locals that make the difference rather than the pubs themselves...

Some are lucky enough to actually live in their favoured area. Others, myself included, need to travel for their 'ideal' pub pleasure. For me it's a combination of the notably gregarious locals, and the continued focus on pubs as 'Pubs' rather than foodie destinations that make the smaller (often ex-mining) towns and villages of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire my own favourite (though if I'm honest, it's not my only favourite area!). As luck would have it I don't have to travel too far, less than an hour by train for me under normal circumstances. Sadly the last time I was 'up north' enjoying the pubs was over a year ago now, the current restrictions on travel, and of course pub opening, cutting short any chance of a re-visit for the time being.

Not all of the pubs in my favoured area are 'great' of course, in fact there are just as many identikit refurbished, family dining, and chronically run-down boozers to be found there as anywhere else in the country. It's just that the ones which have escaped the scourge of corporate neglect or bland makeover tend to be very-much my kind of pubs. Essentially licensed social clubs, run largely for the benefit of the locals rather than as destinations for diners or travelling beer enthusiasts. And it's to the credit of the local drinkers that so many pubs remain this way, because clearly there's still a demand for what some might regard as a slightly old-fangled tradition of social drinking.

Another aspect of pubs in the Notts and Derby area that particularly appeals to me is the relative strength of games play. It's getting ever-rarer to find traditional pub games like Long Alley Skittles at pubs in the centre of town, but this and other games are still relatively common in the smaller towns and urban villages of the area. Take the Wellington Inn for example, a pub which commands a position at the very heart of Eastwood village, and yet still has room for a serviceable skittle alley in what is quite a small beer garden.

The Wellington is one of those solid but unassuming, all-day-opening boltholes for shoppers and locals that's still very common to market towns everywhere. Not exactly busy on the wet weekday lunchtime when I visited, but then where is these days! Nevertheless, there always seems to be a gaggle of chatty, loyal regulars settled-in around the bar at these town-centre locals, the kind of minor but important continuity of trade that helps take the chill off a pub on slow winter days like this.

The skittle alley is located to the side of the pub, and traditional for the area in that it's situated entirely outdoors with no apparent shelter from the elements. I'm not sure which if any local team(s) play from the Wellington, but the lack of cover would likely make the Wellington a Summer venue only. The pub is certainly listed as a venue on the Ilkeston & District Skittles League website, but this is sadly a few years out of date now. Needless to say, league games of all types have stalled under the current social distancing rules, and it's hard to see at this stage how traditional team games like skittles will be able to safely re-commence, even when the pubs that host them are finally allowed to open again.

I certainly hope that some way can be found to get these leagues up and running again, even if it means (temporarily) abandoning some of the long-standing traditions and conventions that make these games special. Traditional games like this may be just a small part of what makes a pub like the Wellington Inn tick, but they represent the single most important aspect of pub-going for me, the social side. Because it's this social side rather than the beer and food that many regular pub-goers like myself are missing the most.

Pub Game Trophies & Medals - Pt.2

Alley skittles, as played in the West Country and much of Southern England and Wales, is perhaps the most popular of all regional and local pub games played today. In fact it's always been a popular game, such that skittles in all its myriad forms would have been ubiquitous in pubs and clubs throughout the country at one time. As such, winners medals and other silverware for the game are very common, perhaps second only in number to the '(inter)national' game of Darts. Common enough then, and for the most part the images used on these medals and trophies are quite similar in design, usually a man, delivering a ball down an alley at a set of skittle pins.

This slightly over-polished base-metal disc would have originally been mounted on a shield or trophy, so the lack of league and winners details (and possibly hallmark) that you'd expect to find on a medal makes it difficult to date. The main interest for me is that the image depicts a woman in the act of Skittles play, something I've rarely seen on a medal, trophy or shield for traditional pub games. Which is not to say that 'silverware' for women's teams and leagues doesn't exist, it's just that the images depicted are usually either standard depictions of men at play, or a genderless representation of the game itself such as a Dartboard, Cards, or Dominoes.

Now I'm certainly no expert on period dress, but the woman depicted here seems to come from another time altogether, perhaps a vintage representation of the game at the very least. The pins are slightly problematic for skittles, looking as they do more like a set for 10-pin bowling than our native 9 pin skittles. However, I've seen more than enough genuinely old skittle pins to know that they come in all shapes and sizes, indeed the Hereford Leagues have been using re-purposed bowling pins like these for many years. It is of course worth reiterating that the games depicted on these medals and trophies don't necessarily reflect the one that it was awarded for. But women have been participating in traditional games at the pub for many years, so it's nice to see their gender represented correctly on the silverware for a change.

There's perhaps no better indication of just how popular and widespread the game of Steel Quoits was in the late 19th and early 20th century than the existence of medals like this one. Silverware for Football and Cricket is perhaps the most common of all 'sporting' fob medals, but this one is slightly unusual in that it indicates the Dewsbury & Savile Cricket & Football Club had a Quoits Section alongside the more familiar national sports played at the club.

Around the time this Fattorini & Sons medal was made, Quoits was played throughout the country, and in some areas would have been the equal of Football for spectator interest, if not actual participation. Quoits Pitches and the larger Quoits Fields suitable for spectating the sport were numerous and often associated with pubs, but they were also an important aspect of multi-discipline sports clubs like this one. The Dewsbury & Savile Club eventually merged with Whitley Lower Cricket Club, later to become the Hopton Mills Cricket Club. The old ground was surrendered to the council, though it's doubtful whether the Quoits Pitch still existed at this time as the game went into rapid decline in the post-war years. There's a bit about the famous old Cricket Club online, not so much about the Football, and needless to say there's nothing much at all about the Quoits Section!

In 1935 when this medal by Thomas Fattorini Ltd of Birmingham was presented, it would have been standard practice for skittles leagues to seek, or be offered sponsorship from local brewers. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement given the thirsty custom a thriving skittles league would have brought to their pubs. Georges Brewery (latterly part of the Courage, Barclay and Simonds group) was a Bristol based brewing concern, and therefore the game on this medal is correctly represented as alley skittles, a game which is still popular throughout the West Country and beyond.

Small Bore or Miniature Rifle Shooting is one of those sports that flies well below the radar for most of us. Yet this too was very popular from around the war years as both a recreational pastime and a way of improving shooting proficiency in the civilian population at a time of conflict. That this branch of shooting should have found a natural home in the pub might seem odd, and yet entirely unsurprising given it was targeted at the working classes, and for many the pub, clubs, and the village hall were the only indoor venues available to shoot over a range of 15-25 yards. The sport is still practiced at the pub, often making use of the Skittle Alley.

This 'white-metal' medallion is slightly larger than a typical fob medal, and originally had a chain ring screwed into the top edge. So a true 'medal' to be worn around the neck if so desired. Made by Pinches of London, a highly regarded medallist established in 1840, now part of the Franklin Mint. From the position of the gentleman cueing at the table, there's the suggestion of three balls on the table in this image. Possibly deliberate given that the medal is probably for the earlier 3-ball game of Billards rather than Snooker.

The 'pushing' and 'shoving' games rarely seem to feature on fob medals or trophies. Perhaps for most players, these bar-room games were regarded as more of an afternoon pleasure than serious competition, though it's certainly true that there were numerous leagues for the games of Shove Ha'penny and Pushpenny throughout the 20th century, a handful of which survive to this day. This is the closest I've managed to acquire of this once very popular game, a slightly novel spinning medal that would have originally been mounted atop a trophy of some sort. We might cautiously conclude from the image that this was for the rarer 3-coin game of Pushpenny rather than the 5-coin game Shove Ha'penny.

Pub Game Trophies & Medals - Pt.1

The rewards for winning in pub game play are usually 'token' at best, rarely of significant monetary value. In fact most of the trophies awarded to individuals today are practically valueless, mass-produced plastic, purely symbolic, though no less important to those who receive them of course. Small cash prizes are sometimes awarded, indeed I recall winning a few quid as runner-up in a pairs cup competition in my local Table Skittles League. I'm not sure this is a widespread thing, it certainly came as something of a surprise to me at the time.

The real prize for victorious teams and individuals in local competition is the proud legacy of achievement. That, and getting your name engraved on what are often impressive league trophies or shields, joining a list of previous winners that may stretch back over many decades of play, perhaps even a century or more! In days gone by you might also expect to see your name in the local newspaper. The chat and banter of a social night out at pub or club, and the outside-chance of a bit of glory and local bragging-rights are everything in pub games.

Until relatively recently, prizes would have been both symbolic, and often of genuine monetary value. The huge number of mostly silver medals and trophies awarded in local competition from the late 19th century and throughout much of the 20th century, is testament to how much more important these games would have been to participants back then. It's hard to gauge just how valuable these medals would have been in their day, after all, they may have been made from silver (occasionally gold!), but there's very little weight to them, and practically all were 'struck' or 'cast' rather than individually 'crafted' by the jewellers and medallists who made them. But they're certainly medals in the true sense of the word, recognition in precious metal of success in what may have been a very tough competition over the course of a season or cup run.

So, reasonably valuable tokens that would have been awarded in large quantities almost everywhere games were played competitively. Precious enough to the individuals who won them that they wouldn't have been simply discarded, but perhaps not valuable enough for the melting pot. As such they're quite common now, and come up for sale in the antiques and collectibles trade all the time, albeit they're not quite as common as those for 'sporting' prowess such as Football, Cricket, or Athletics. Over the years I've acquired a few of these medals, the images on the front and little scraps of social history engraved on the rear make them attractive items to collect and research. Each one has a story to tell, though deciphering that story can often prove difficult given the chronic lack of information on pub games leagues in archives and online sources. Here are a few examples from my collection.

This medal (above & left) is an interesting one. Probably made by Vaughton Ltd, a jeweller and medallist that's still trading in Birmingham today. Whilst I've failed to discover anything about the I S Skittles Club (Islington?), what's striking about this medal is the image on the front which appears to show a gentleman about to hurl a weighty discus-shaped 'Cheese' at a set of very large skittle pins. The size/shape of the pins and the layout of the alley all point toward this representing the almost extinct game of Old English Skittles, famously still played at the last remaining pub alley for the game at the Freemasons Arms in Hammersmith, London. This style of skittles was very common around the war years which is when this medal would have been awarded, and yet this is one of only two examples that I've come across, both by Vaughton Ltd with an identical skittling image. It's important to note that the image on the front of a medal is no guarantee that it represents the version of skittles actually played in the league it was awarded for. It may simply be that this was the standard medal for all skittles games supplied by Vaughtons, and for this reason it's not wise to draw firm conclusions about the specific games they might represent.

A good example of this is the medal shown here which appears to represent the popular 'West Country' game of alley skittles. The figure, clearly holding a round ball, is lining-up to 'bowl' at a set of typically dumpy alley skittles. The slatted alley is also 'Western' in style. However, this medal was actually awarded to the winner of the 1944/5 season in the Syston Skittles League, a league of longstanding in the 'Long Alley Skittles' county of Leicestershire. I think we can be reasonably sure that the league would have been playing Long Alley at this time, a very different type of skittles that's certainly not the one represented on this medal.

Dominoes is perhaps the most humble of all pub games, yet even this warranted medals made of silver. An inexpensive game played casually as well as competitively, but a game with something of an image problem, particularly with the young. Both Dominoes and Cards are games that younger pub-goers take little interest in, unless of course there's a stake to be won. Back in 1959 when this medal was struck by Fattorini & Sons Ltd, a small bit of silver would have been ample reward for a seasons play. The medal shown here seems to be for the most common pub Domino game, Fives & Threes given that the 6-3 and double 5 are the most important scoring tiles in the game.

The 1930's were the time when Darts really took off in Britain, and by the 40's it seems every pub had a board, if not a team actually playing in a local league. The 'sport' was widely promoted with booklets detailing how to play, numerous sponsored competitions with cash prizes, as well as hugely popular exhibition matches. There was even a highly irritating song extolling the virtues of the game. So this medal by W H Haseler Ltd of Birmingham (1938) was one of the earlier examples of its kind, which perhaps explains the rather poor rendering of the game itself. The Dart is somewhat oversized, the Board rather too small and perhaps closer in detail to a target than a true Dartboard. Darts represents the most common of all pub game medals, most of which feature a simple rendering of a Dartboard on the front, though earlier examples like this one tend to concentrate on the player as much as the board. There is still a Hornsea & District Ladies Darts League.

Table Skittles medals don't seem to turn up as often as those for other skittle games. Perhaps this is down to the more local/regional nature of the game in comparison to alley skittles which is widespread. The medal above is a modern example made from base metal, and has a fairly accurate rendering of a classic Northamptonshire 'Hooded' Skittles Table. Again, this is the only one of its kind that I've thus-far come across, appropriately enough at a Car Boot sale in the county. Slightly odd given that I've scoured antiques centres, fayres and flea markets in Northants for several years without success. I gather that small trophies, plaques and shields are awarded for Table Skittles these days, and attractive as they are, I'm not sure what folk would actually do with a medal like this one now. When the awarding of medals was at its peak, most players would have wore pocket watches. This explains why small medals like this are often known as Fob Medals or Medallions, because they were designed to be displayed on a watch chain.

This silver medal is also clearly for Table Skittles, though careful examination reveals a slightly different form of the game has been depicted. This medal was struck by Thomas James Skelton of Birmingham & Chester in 1933, and at this time there would have been several local variants of the game of Table Skittles. This table has no 'Hood' like the Northamptonshire game, and the table is longer and perhaps narrower, in fact more in the style of the Kentish game Daddlums. This unique skittles game is almost extinct now, but would have been very popular and quite common throughout the South East at the time this medal was awarded. Again, it's hard to draw firm conclusions about the game that this was actually presented for, and sadly the detailed inscription on the back has proved little help in this regard, but if this is a medal for Daddlums competition it may prove to be something of a rarity. I don't doubt there are other medals for this game out there somewhere, but as yet I've failed to find them.

Adam & Eve, Cheltenham

As I write this post, pubs everywhere have been forced to shut up shop in the wake of the global Coronavirus pandemic. That some of these pubs may struggle to re-open again seems a very real possibility at this time, which is of course small-beer when set against the bigger picture of loss of life, and the potential collapse of our precious health service. It is however, sadly ironic that the social distancing required to tackle the spread of this virus, can itself affect our health in less obvious ways. Because for most of us, human contact and the kind of socialising that's at the very heart of pub-going, isn't an optional extra to a healthy and happy life, it's essential to our mental wellbeing.

All pubs fulfil this vital social role to some degree. For many of us, if we didn't already know it, this sudden absence in our social lives will have highlighted the true value of pubs, a value that goes beyond their role as mere purveyors of alcoholic drinks.

Whilst drinking the very best beers, wines, and ciders at home remains an epicurean pleasure that's thankfully still open to most of us, for me, and many pub-goers like me, this represents just a fraction of the pleasure derived from spending time at the pub in good company. Perhaps this awful and utterly depressing health crisis will be the thing that finally opens peoples eyes to how special pubs can be, and the important place they still occupy in our increasingly fractured society.

The Adam & Eve

What would turn out to be my last proper weekend away before lockdown was a trip to Gloucestershire in late March, and even this was touch-and-go given that it was during the latter stages of yet another devastating Severn flood. As it was, Tewkesbury was damp, but very much open for business, and I'm so glad that I went even though some of the pubs I was aiming to visit were closed due to the flooding. I finished the weekend with a short Sunday stopover in Cheltenham, the town braced for a deluge of its own given that this was the weekend before race week...

Now I've got into the slightly lazy habit of heading straight to the Bath Road when in Cheltenham. The new-ish Bath Road Beers bottle shop/micropub has lately become the go-to venue for more 'modern' styles of beer in Cheltenham, and as such it's been a while since I've visited anywhere new, different, or indeed any of my old favourites. This time I fancied a change, and with the benefit of hindsight I'm very glad that I did.

I like to think I know my way around most of Cheltenham pubs, but the fact is there are still plenty that I've never been to, including a good few that represent the towns longstanding skittles tradition. I had a couple of pubs in mind that day, including a large estate pub in the leafy post-war suburbs that would have to wait for a less rainy day.

The Adam & Eve is just a short walk from the town centre in an area I've never properly explored. Quite why or how I've managed to miss the Adam & Eve all these years is a bit of a mystery though. It's such a well-loved pub locally, a former Good Beer Guide regular that nobody I know has a bad word for, even though it seems to have fallen off the beer enthusiasts radar in recent years. This is an Arkells Brewery pub, so you'll find no murky craft beers or cutting-edge imported hop-monsters here. Just a solid, traditional, locally special backstreet boozer, serving the local beers its loyal locals want.

It's likely that pubs like the Adam & Eve will be missed more than most by their locals during this crisis. When I popped in at the crack of opening time on Sunday, I don't think I could have got through the door any earlier, and yet a scattering of locals were already settling in for the afternoon. A couple of chaps methodically working their way through a game at the Dartboard. A smartly dressed elderly couple occupying a prime position near the door, all the better to greet friends and acquaintances as they arrived, myself included. A handful of bar flies of course, chewing the fat with the gaffer over the first pint of the day. And half a dozen regulars grouped around a table on the edge of the Skittle Alley, the unmistakable banter of a serious card game that looked like it would go on for most of the afternoon. I had a pint of something good from the local brewery, I don't recall what it was. Watching the timeless workings of a solid traditional locals pub on that most traditional of all pub sessions is thirsty work after all.

The Adam & Eve is one of perhaps a dozen or so venues in Cheltenham for Skittles. The alley located slap-bang in the middle of the pub, which must dominate proceedings when a noisy match is progress. The pub hasn't always had this slightly unusual layout. The story goes that the pub was originally just the left-hand side of the current building, the alley running down the right-hand wall and projecting out to the rear of the building. Needless to say this was something of a noise issue for their immediate neighbours, so when the chance arose the brewery bought the property to the right of the pub and knocked through. At a stroke doubling the size of the pub, putting the alley in the centre of the resulting space and no longer adjoining a residential property. That's real dedication to Skittling! Or perhaps an acknowledgment by the brewery of the serious trade that Skittles brings to pubs like the Adam & Eve.

When this lockdown ends, and pubs are finally allowed to re-open, I doubt whether the locals of the Adam & Eve will have gotten so used to drinking at home that they won't be rushing back to the pub for the Sunday session. Proper locals pubs like the Adam & Eve are social-centres first and foremost, and represent what pubgoing is all about in my view. When this lockdown ends, it's pubs like the Adam & Eve that I'll be rushing back to.

Greasley Castle, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire

This was originally going to be a 'before-and-after' post on the Greasley Castle. As it stand it's merely the 'before' that you see here, the 'after' will have to wait until the travel restrictions we're all labouring under are lifted and I can finally return to Eastwood. These photographs were taken almost a year ago as part of an exploration of pubs in the Eastwood area, taking advantage of travel on the Trent Barton Rainbow 1 bus route on a rainy midweek afternoon. There's a lot to explore on this popular route because the whole area is very well pubbed, many of which are very good pubs indeed. Needless to say I didn't manage even the half of it that day, and have been looking for an opportunity to revisit the area ever since...

The Greasley Castle pub is itself unfinished business for me. When I popped in for a pint and a chat with the landlord that day it was clear that things were about to change at the pub, and change for the better I was assured. So the pub that you see here, whilst certainly attractive and traditional enough (certainly for my tastes), was perhaps not showing at its best after several years in the hands of a locally unpopular national pubco. In an area that's now regarded as something of a beery destination by those in the know, literally awash with new-ish micropubs as well as some very highly regarded traditional older boozers, the Greasley Castle had perhaps fallen behind some of the local competition. Enter Derbyshire pub chain the Pub People Co, who have good form revitalising pubs like this in the Derby and Notts area. As it happens, the pub was due to close for a welcome refurbishment within days of my visit.

The Greasley Castle is one of many Hardys & Hansons pubs in the area that subsequently passed into the hands of Greene King following the unfortunate family sell-out. The painting below, which hopefully still hangs on the wall of the bar, shows the pub in its former 'Kimberley Ales' livery, a common sight throughout the area given Eastwoods close proximity to the now closed brewery. This was 'Kimberley Country' back then, and the traditional dark Mild and refreshing Bitter were popular with local drinkers in a way that some of the replacements from Bury St Edmunds don't seem to be, which probably explains why the Greasley Castle has always served local guest beers, including longstanding Derby and Midlands favourite Draught Bass.

What was probably a multi-room pub in its original guise has been opened out over the years to form a single room, albeit retaining three distinct areas. The larger bar area is clearly the social hub of the pub, the place to prop up the bar and chew the fat over a pint, but there's also a cosy lounge/snug to the rear (above), and a smaller tile-floored area that was home to the pubs Dartboard when I visited. Televised sport is clearly very important at a pub like the Greasley Castle, but so too are traditional pub games, as evidenced by the shelf-full of plaques and trophies for that most traditional of pub games, Dominoes.

It's not at all clear at this time whether the Wednesday 5' & 3's Domino session is still going strong at the pub, or indeed whether the Darts throw has survived this most recent refurbishment. All of which I'm keen to discover on a future visit whenever that might be. One other thing I'm particularly keen to explore is the newly spruced-up patio to the rear of the pub, because the Greasley Castle, in common with many community locals in this neck of the woods, was once a pub for the local Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire game of Long Alley Skittles. The pubs outdoor skittle alley was certainly still in situ at the time of my visit, though sadly not in any state to be viewed or photographed. It may still be there underneath the garden furniture, so I'm keen to record its existence even if it may never see action in a game of skittles again.

Northway Arms, Northway, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire

Classic 'modern' estate pubs like the Northway Arms don't as a rule feature heavily on beer blogs, and with one or two notable exceptions, rarely make much of an impression on pub blogs either. Indeed why would they! These pubs are neither fish nor fowl in the world of blogging, more often than not tied to a very limited beer range, and not usually regarded as being historically or architecturally important. It's one of the reasons I'm keen to feature them on this blog, because they really are a neglected subject both online and in print such that it can be quite difficult to research their origins or near past. Another reason being that we've lost so many of these boozers in recent years, often leaving little or no trace that they ever existed.

In many ways, those post-war and early 20th century estate pubs that do survive (as well as trades and social clubs) represent a last link to how all community locals would have been at one time, and how many still were in the mid-80's when I first started drinking in them. Pubs that served a multitude of social functions for a largely local clientele, and where the range of beers, whilst it may have had some bearing on which pubs you and your mates preferred, played second fiddle to who you were meeting up with that night, or what gaming and entertainment might be on. As the only pub on quite a large estate that's neither bustling town nor rural village destination, the Northway Arms simply has to fulfil this varied and inclusive social function if it's to thrive.

Of course estate pubs have always had a limited appeal to the beer enthusiast. Particularly given that many were established during the infamous rush to keg of the 1960's, and were probably regarded as unsuitable outlets for the nascent real ale revival that followed in its wake. The Northway certainly had a cask beer from the Allied stable of breweries in the mid 90's, and may well have done when the pub first opened its doors in the 60's or 70's, but sadly the handpumps are now long gone.

It's also true that many estate pubs are regarded (often by those who don't actually use them!) as being slightly less than attractive as social venues. There's some truth in this of course. Until relatively recently, estate pubs have been largely ignored by their pubco owners when it comes to the annual refurbishment budget, the spending more often targeted at high-earning food outlets, city-centre bars, and rural tourist destinations. As a result many of these buildings have been in steady decline almost since the day they were built. Never particularly attractive to non-locals anyway, but getting ever more tired and unloved over the years until the axe finally falls on what were once very popular pubs that even the locals have fallen out of love with. Neighbourhood supermarkets in residential areas mark the passing of many of these sadly neglected boozers.

Over the last couple of years though I've noticed welcome signs of change, and visited several recently refurbished estate pubs that are finally being given a second chance by their owners in the hope of re-establishing them at the heart of the communities they serve. The Northway falls very-much into this category. The pub has received a comprehensive makeover in recent years that fully respects the buildings historic origins as a Manor House in the original Northway hamlet. It's immaculate inside and out, retains a multi-room layout, and is a credit to the current licensees who've been very proactive with regard to functions, events, and charitable fundraising within the local community throughout the last 7 years of their tenancy.

Whilst the Northway is undoubtedly a very fine pub in my view, it's not, if I'm absolutely honest, a pub I'd be going out of my way to drink in under normal circumstances. I think it's safe to say that this is very much a local pub, primarily serving the needs of locals on the Northway estate. Not so much a destination pub for a tourist on his way back from a long day out in Worcester, though the fact that the pub also functions as a handy waiting room for the Ashchurch rail station goes some way to explaining why I found myself in the bar, Guinness in hand, late on a Saturday night. Now I'd certainly had a few beers that day, but then so it seems had the locals. A lively but friendly bunch as you'd expect on a Saturday night. The banter was a little bit coarse it's true, you either like that or you don't. I'm fine with it and I think they were fine with me as a result.

Of course the main reason I was happy to pop in for a pint was that the Northway is an important venue in the local Tewkesbury & District Skittles League, and I have to thank the barman who was on that night for happily opening up the skittle alley for me when I'm sure he had far better things to do.

Gloucestershire remains a stronghold for the 'West Country' skittles tradition, with leagues centred on most of the bigger towns, albeit that the Tewkesbury League is certainly not what it was. Whilst the league seems to be well supported, currently stretching to four divisions of over fifty teams, venues continue to be lost. This years devastating floods in the Severn region seem to have finally done for the White Bear in Tewkesbury itself, the licensees finally throwing in the towel after several years of repeated and highly damaging flooding (though I have heard rumours of a possible reprise since I visited). The pub was up for sale when I popped down for a look, it's future very far from certain, and of course this includes its very fine skittle alley, the last remaining alley at a pub in Tewkesbury itself.

Which makes surviving pubs like the Northway all the more precious. Because classic estate pubs are not only a last link to what some of us regard as a golden age of social pub-going, but often they're the last custodians of a social gaming tradition every bit as important as beer and brewing, the subject of which seems to dominate the pub scene now to a wholly disproportionate degree in my view.

As I write this, the Northway Arms is of course closed along with all other pubs during the current national lockdown. The pub is still serving the community however, acting as a collection point for food and other important supplies, helping provide a lifeline for self-isolating individuals and other vulnerable people within the Northway area.

A practice set of skittles is always available for a few 'hands' at the pub, with each teams matchday pins kept secure in boxes as shown (above). The partition to the right of the pins (below) is where the 'sticker' takes refuge after re-seating the pins.