Pubs gone but not forgotten

[Aqualung]

I've started this thread to allow myself and any others willing to do so to recall memories (in true Real Ale Twats tradition) of recalling great old pubs that have been ruined, mainly by closure.
I would recommend a Title to each post giving either a pub name, a brewery or an area.

[Aqualung]

This pub was famous back in the day (late 1970s and early 1980s?) for selling beers from the Black Country like Batham's Holden's and Simpkiss. The word was that the owner used to travel up and collect the beers himself. I can only recall the last time I visited when I think it was Burton Bridge rather than Black Country. I've no idea what it's like now but it has re-opened.

[Pangolin]

This pub was famous back in the day (late 1970s and early 1980s?) for selling beers from the Black Country like Batham's Holden's and Simpkiss. The word was that the owner used to travel up and collect the beers himself. I can only recall the last time I visited when I think it was Burton Bridge rather than Black Country. I've no idea what it's like now but it has re-opened.

The Sandrock was indeed an excellent beer pub but haven't been for many years. According to local CAMRA the beer range has become less unusual. Will try and visit in the spring. The Bat & Ball also used to be good, if you could find it.

[Spinko]

How about Y Bae in Aberystwyth, Quinno...

[Mobyduck]

The Sandrock was indeed an excellent beer pub but haven't been for many years. According to local CAMRA the beer range has become less unusual. Will try and visit in the spring. The Bat & Ball also used to be good, if you could find it.

I was last in the Sandrock about eight years ago, didn't review for some reason, the most exotic beer on was T.T. Landlord and it was turning a little gastro. Also went to the Bat & Ball and drove down to the carpark in a little Ford Fiesta, you really needed a Chieftain Tank to negotiate the potholes in the unmade road.

[oldboots]

This puts me in mind of the Newport Inn, a small Hampshire pub hidden away in the country side, I remember drinking Gales 5X Winter Ale there, the landlord's name was Bernard. Bernard was married to Janet who had taken over the pub from her parents in the early years of the second world war. Apart from new wall paper in the lounge sometime in the 1950s nothing had changed since then. The gents of course was outside although the ladies was an indoor facility just off the lounge.

There was uproar in the pub when it was "ruined" in the early 1980s by the construction of a corridor between the public and the gents, new wallpaper and the moving of the counter back a few inches, most but not all, of the locals eventually got over it. A proper till was installed to replace the drawer previously used.

On Saturday and Sunday nights Janet would play a selection of music hall songs and songs from the shows on the old johanna, while the assembled regulars and visitors from miles away would sing along, naturally it was standing room only and a visit to the gents would require careful consideration of which door to exit through. Many students would visit on these occasions in search of traditional village life, all under about 25 were briefly banned from drinking HSB after an unfortunate vomiting incident in the car park, "you young lads can't take the HSB" was the explanation given. I still bear the scar from falling off my bike after my first gallon of HSB there, so maybe Janet knew what she was talking about.

There was a break to the singsong for a couple of weeks when Janet, who by then would be well into her sixties, ran off with one of the regulars; she returned within a fortnight and the incident was never refered to again. The garden grew more unkempt as the years passed and the rabbits in hutches there slowly died off, and the children's swing got rustier and rustier, but the famous Ploughman's continued. This was the only food sold apart from the usual nuts and crisps, and only at lunchtime; it comprised about 6 ounces of Cheddar, a small cottage loaf, a handful of pickled onions and a dollop of "sweet pickle" (Branston). Butter on request.

The begining of the end came with the closure of Gales brewery and its takeover by Fullers, Bernard had by now passed on to the great taproom in the sky and Janet was losing the use of her legs through illness and old age, she still brought the coal in however by having the sack put on a child's trolley. After her death Fullers shut the pub but who knows maybe one day it will reopen but it won't be the same.

[Brainypool]

This puts me in mind of the Newport Inn, a small Hampshire pub hidden away in the country side, I remember drinking Gales 5X Winter Ale there, the landlord's name was Bernard. Bernard was married to Janet who had taken over the pub from her parents in the early years of the second world war. Apart from new wall paper in the lounge sometime in the 1950s nothing had changed since then. The gents of course was outside although the ladies was an indoor facility just off the lounge.

There was uproar in the pub when it was "ruined" in the early 1980s by the construction of a corridor between the public and the gents, new wallpaper and the moving of the counter back a few inches, most but not all, of the locals eventually got over it. A proper till was installed to replace the drawer previously used.

On Saturday and Sunday nights Janet would play a selection of music hall songs and songs from the shows on the old johanna, while the assembled regulars and visitors from miles away would sing along, naturally it was standing room only and a visit to the gents would require careful consideration of which door to exit through. Many students would visit on these occasions in search of traditional village life, all under about 25 were briefly banned from drinking HSB after an unfortunate vomiting incident in the car park, "you young lads can't take the HSB" was the explanation given. I still bear the scar from falling off my bike after my first gallon of HSB there, so maybe Janet knew what she was talking about.

There was a break to the singsong for a couple of weeks when Janet, who by then would be well into her sixties, ran off with one of the regulars; she returned within a fortnight and the incident was never refered to again. The garden grew more unkempt as the years passed and the rabbits in hutches there slowly died off, and the children's swing got rustier and rustier, but the famous Ploughman's continued. This was the only food sold apart from the usual nuts and crisps, and only at lunchtime; it comprised about 6 ounces of Cheddar, a small cottage loaf, a handful of pickled onions and a dollop of "sweet pickle" (Branston). Butter on request.

The begining of the end came with the closure of Gales brewery and its takeover by Fullers, Bernard had by now passed on to the great taproom in the sky and Janet was losing the use of her legs through illness and old age, she still brought the coal in however by having the sack put on a child's trolley. After her death Fullers shut the pub but who knows maybe one day it will reopen but it won't be the same.

An interview with Janet

Christmas Eve 2009

[oldboots]

Brilliant!!!

I shall save that link for when I am old and shall wear purple.

Many thanks.

[Mobyduck]

An interview with Janet

Christmas Eve 2009

Beggars belief why with that prospective footfall, a place would be closed, with the right management and foresight it looks a winner.

[Tris39]

Cross Keys was a lovely traditional 'village' pub when I was a regular in the late '80s. Small, oak settles, an island bar with gantry, log fire and plenty of knick-knacks. It seems to have changed beyond all recognition even since the first review and apparently has a gallery along with a much larger interior; God knows where they got the extra space.
Now look at it: https://www.thecrosskeyschelsea.co.uk/pub/