As is often the case, context is everything. Once you know about the statues and their history, it does seem rather pathetic. Out of interest, I asked my 26 year old daughter whether she found it offensive and she said absolutely not. Furthermore, she said wasn't really interested in what a middle aged man had to say on the subject and witheringly described his taking offence as a little suspicious!
For some real horrors, there's always Pumpclip Parade: https://pumpclipparade.co.uk/
'And where he supped the past lived still. And where he sipped the glass brimmed full' John Barleycorn, Carol Ann Duffy.
If I were a publican there are certainly a shed-load of clips which I wouldn't allow to line my bar; I can only think that most of these date back to at least the 1980s. But Naked Ladies is the name of the statue! Perhaps the CAMRA Thought Police would like to burn this painting. It's not as if the clip depicts Evel Knievel with the name Cunning Stunts IPA.
Last edited by Tris39; 16-04-2024 at 19:28.
Agreed and also very foolish.Twickenham maybe famous for rugby but the town itself is of little note apart from the statues in the council grounds.My son got married there last year and the group photos were in the same grounds. Nobody took any offence when faced up with the actual Naked Ladies.Clearly CAMRA coudn't be bother to research the connection between Twickenham and the Naked Ladies and just had a knee jerk reaction to a single "complaint" which was then amplified by an anti drinking lobby.
PC gone mad.
Last edited by Bucking Fastard; 16-04-2024 at 19:57.
"Good people drink good beer" Hunter S Thompson
I agree there are some horrors there. But there are a few where the innuendo or offence is only in the mind of the beholder, or in this case the person that added them to the website.
For example, there is nothing smutty about the name Fanny Ebbs.
Fanny is a diminuitive of the name Frances (read Jane Austen's Mansfield Park if you don't believe me), and the name references a far-fetched tale that seems to have been concocted to account for a shop owner's extraordinary wealth. Many of Tring Brewery's beers have names based on Hertfordshire folklore, so this one (Fanny Ebbs lived near Hitchin) is entirely consistent.
Come On You Hatters!
It's kinda "damned if you do, damned if you don't" with these things. But someone should have read the adjudication by the Portman Group's panel before commenting, as it is a model of rational consideration of the facts and arguments - especially the complainant's assertion that "...from my recent experience of ordering a pint in a London pub in which this was the only available real ale, the name of the beer and pump clip imagery present real problems of offence and embarrassment. As a middle-aged man, the experience of saying the name of the beer to the young woman serving at the bar was awkward and unsettling for all concerned. He had difficulty saying the name of the only cask beer on the bar? Just point, man.
If, after reading it, they still wanted to say it was wrong, a more considered statement should have been written. (One National Executive committee member said that they - and possibly others - hadn't been consulted before the statement was issued to the press.)
Come On You Hatters!
Yet another listed historic and closed pub that failed to get planning permission goes up in smoke, this time probably due to squatters rather than owners, although they failed to look after it anyway.
Burn Bullock, Mitcham
On leaving the bar, I felt a strong blow to the back of my head. Turning round, I discovered it was the pavement
Was the subject of much discussion in the Traf on Saturday - apparently happened the day after the squatters were evicted, hmmm... an opportunity for the owners (who have left it fallow for years) to 'arrange' a blaze but blame the squatters? Or could be a genuine revenge fire by evictees? I'd lean toward the former...