The old days of going to the pub

R

Rose65

Well-known Member
Location
United Kingdom
Do you remember times, here in the UK at least, of regularly going to the pub?
I think wistfully of those relaxed years when on certain days each week we would meet up with the same lovely cosy characters and just sit and chat for a couple of hours. Not drinking much, it was far more about the good company, conversation and story- telling.
Our local was a friendly place back then, it felt safe and good to be just passing the time of day with nice people .
I liked the old characters who had lived and had wisdom, humour and good advice.
 

We were still going to the pub right up until my husband left 3 years ago...

I agree that most pubs now are not what they were, the bastion of adults only .. and since they allowed children in, and then served food restaurant style, we've lost the majority of pubs... no more pubs for adults only to play darts or billiards, or crib.... at least no longer now in decent areas...
There's still a few to be found in less salubrious areas..but unless you want beer from filthy lines, and your feet to stick to the carpet.. it would be well to stay away from those...


..we are lucky we still have a couple around here, country pubs that are very traditional but they're holding on by their fingernails.. the govt have destroyed them with the huge hike in Taxes..
 
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When I was younger my friends and I would go to a large hotel in Sydney, you had to be 21 to drink in those days. We were all underage but were never asked our age. The pub opposite where I worked had a "Ladies Only" room at the back of the hotel, one old dear used to bring in
her Peas and shell them into her apron, whilst she was having a beer, then when they were all done, she put them into a carry bag and take them home for dinner.
 

oscash said:
When I was younger my friends and I would go to a large hotel in Sydney, you had to be 21 to drink in those days. We were all underage but were never asked our age. The pub opposite where I worked had a "Ladies Only" room at the back of the hotel, one old dear used to bring in
her Peas and shell them into her apron, whilst she was having a beer, then when they were all done, she put them into a carry bag and take them home for dinner.
Click to expand...
In Scotland unlike England you had to be 21 to go into a pub when I was young, but Hotels would let us in if we were eating as well, so a group of us would always go to a hotel on a Sunday afernoon... Not becuse I was a drinker but just to be able to be allowed in to a bar ...

Also I remember the trad pub where there was ladies only saloon bars ..and later 2 bar pubs where all the games took place in the public bar, and the rough drinkers.. and everyne else got dressed to the nines for the saloon bar...

I was ladies county Billiards Champion back then :D
 
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I wish we had more like the trad British pub in Canada. Here they mainly have very noisy music and often even sports channels on several TV screens.That's an influence that has seeped in from the U.S. So, although these places until recently were termed pubs, they're not.

In London I went to the Bag o' Nails, and it was quiet... but probably that was simply because it was afternoon, not evening. Good fish & chips and beer, though. My best experience of the traditional UK pub was in Lybster, Scotland, and liked it a lot.

In the little "city" not too far from me, there is one pub of that type. It's in an older hotel, and the hotel does have a completely modern North American café with full menu and lighting that's too bright. But the hotel also has a traditional quiet pub with fireplace. We very often meet friends there for lunch or dinner. And, if I want to get together with someone I know who's originally from the UK, that's where I suggest we meet. It's a favorite of mine.
 
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I loved going to the 'in crowd' pub back in the 70s, which backed onto the river.
Fridays/Saturdays were jam packed with us 20yr olds. Great place to get the 'parties tonight' list to go and gatecrash - just because everyone knew everyone else and it gatecrashers were expected.
Fun pub ;)

There were also other pubs we went to, not for fun, more like how you describe Rosie ... conversation, friendly people, warm fire, just not 'manic' as the in-crowd pub.

The first pub I mentioned is still going, only now it's a restaurant type pub. Always filled, so still popular but in a different way.
 
I'm English but have never been in a pub.I'm not a drinker and the smokey atmosphere and the smell of beer turns my stomach.
I think Covid has had an impact on the pub industry, and resulted in many having to close. People have got used to drinking at home.
 
There were a couple of them around where I lived when young. Saurday night the group would all be there playing foos ball and music. Every once in awhile the older women from town would pile in a car and drop in. I guess it was a stage play for them.
 
I've always wanted to visit a nice, quiet laid back English pub. They look so friendly and relaxed. I'm in the U.S. and stopped going to bars. They are too bright, trendy and noisy, plus the violence. Give me a good old fashioned dark and dingy bar, friendly neighborhood bar anytime.
 
Like many places, our village and other nearby ones have lost their pub in recent years, and anyway it's not so easy to get a decent pint in Scotland. Now I buy my beer from small craft breweries who make 'proper' beer - not the 'gnats p--s' that seems to predominate.

Near where I lived in Hampshire was a pub called 'The farmer'. This was opposite the blacksmith's forge and the last owner was 'one of the great unwashed', appropriately called Mr Smith. The story goes that every evening, he would cross the road for a pint and take with him a stone water bottle. He would get this filled with beer, take it back and warm this on the embers of the forge and use it to warm his bed. In the morning, he would drink the cooled beer for breakfast.
 
There are still some pubs in my town who serve craft beer and these same pubs are the ones who keep the traditional card and pub games going. They include both my old local and one local to my youngest son. There's also a brewery on nearby Walney Island called Coastline Breweries which is run from a converted barn. 'Coastline is a family run business created from our passion for quality beer and rum. Brewing out of a small barn on the isle of Walney, we use only the finest ingredients and brew in small batches to produce full flavours.' No idea what they taste like as I don't drink. ;)

Coastline Brewery | Rum & Beers From Walney Island
 
We have some nice pubs locally.

We have a group of friends who meet twice a week in one of the local pubs. Some of the group meet up for lunch and some pop in later. Sometimes we join them and it is always fun.
 
There are still some nice country pubs in & around our village. A few have closed down & become something else, mainly houses. A couple of the outlying ones have turned more into dining pubs but the really old stone ones in the village are still as they always have been, cosy, traditional village pubs. Perhaps it’s partly because it’s a tourist area that attracts many visitors & hikers & bikers in the summer & at weekends.
 
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There was a little bar out in the sticks that became the hang out as classes graduated from our local highschool, kids hung around there for a few years then moved on, some hung around for way too many years. Lots of fun times but also some bad ones, it was kind of a rough place.

A few years ago someone compiled a bunch of pictures and created a short video and set it to music and posted it on Youtube, brought back a lot of memories. One thing I noticed watching the video is what a dump the place was, electric wires strung hapazardly on the walls and ceiling, plywood all over the walls, beat to shit tables and chairs. Not that we cared about anemities, we just wanted to get wasted.
 

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