Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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Richard D
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Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

Post by Richard D »

One of my favourite TV programmes was Cheers set in a Boston Bar, I loved the characters and the storylines. Those who don’t know, many Cheers scripts centered or touched upon a variety of social issues, albeit humorously. In many ways my local is similar, everyone knows your name and everyone has an opinion. None more so than when a football game (soccer) is streamed live. Last night was no exception, I popped down to my local to watch my team Brentford taken on the European Champions Chelsea. The pub was packed with Chelsea supporters leaving just me, the sole Bees fan. Despite losing by one goal to nil the Bees showed how the beautiful game should be played. As for the Chelsea fans I swear ‘Cliff and Norm’ were in the house, I left the pub crying with laughter. I can honestly say it was a priceless evening.

It will be nearly 50 years since I snuck into a pub for the first time, I was 14, for what was more than I bargained for. A story to save for another time. I’m not nor have ever been a heavy drinker, prefer supping a good ale slowly with good conversation to be had. I have lots of stories but would love to hear yours.


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My local serves a lovely pint of Abbot Ale, from Bury St Edmunds where brewing can be traced back 1,000 years. It takes seven days to craft the perfect pint of Abbot Ale. Brewed for longer, the ale has masses of fruit character, malty richness and a superb hop balance. An award-winning beer, Abbot Ale was recognised with a prestigious Monde Gold Award. Just one more reason I don’t gulp my ale, needs to be savoured.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

Post by jkbarnes »

Wonderful post, Richard! Having grown up in the suburbs in the 80s, the “local pub” didn’t exist. My parents grew up in New York City, so I’m quite familiar with the concept. My dad tells stories of being sent by his grandmother to the corner bar to pick up cartons of draft beer for her! He was probably 10 at the time!

There was a neighborhood bar I remember visiting on occasion as a kid when home visiting the family. I remember the first time we ever walked in, the bartender took one look at my dad and “you must be a Stanley,” and poured him a beer. That’s the closest I have to a “Norm!” experience.

I can’t wait to read the stories others share.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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When I was about 9 or 10 years old my uncle owned a pub. This was back when pubs didn’t open all day and we often used to visit on a Sunday. At about 3pm when the pub had shut he used to let us play downstairs while it was empty. I remember it was quite a large pub and had several arcade machines as well as the fruit machines. He would open the money door and allow us to play on the arcades for free while eating crisps and drinking bottles of coke. My sister used to have the run of the place on her roller boots while the parents chatted upstairs.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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jkbarnes wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:21 pmHaving grown up in the suburbs in the 80s, the “local pub” didn’t exist.
I can’t imagine growing up in a neighbourhood without a pub. My local pub was the centre of the community a hive of activity from the organised pub football team to where you met your future partner. In fact, it’s where I met my late wife. Sadly many are closing, an average of six per week. Whereas coffee shops are taking over, unfortunately not somewhere that generates the same atmosphere.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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Richard D wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 2:03 pm
jkbarnes wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:21 pmHaving grown up in the suburbs in the 80s, the “local pub” didn’t exist.
I can’t imagine growing up in a neighbourhood without a pub. My local pub was the centre of the community a hive of activity from the organised pub football team to where you met your future partner. In fact, it’s where I met my late wife. Sadly many are closing, an average of six per week. Whereas coffee shops are taking over, unfortunately not somewhere that generates the same atmosphere.
The lack of a local bar is just one of many horrors of growing up in the suburbs. My former father-in-law grew up in Pennsylvania where there was a local bar on almost every corner. He liked and missed the experience so much that he turned his basement into a bar!

The closest I’ve come to this experience was being a regular at a bar in college. Not quite the same, though.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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iain wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:50 pm When I was about 9 or 10 years old my uncle owned a pub. This was back when pubs didn’t open all day and we often used to visit on a Sunday. At about 3pm when the pub had shut he used to let us play downstairs while it was empty. I remember it was quite a large pub and had several arcade machines as well as the fruit machines. He would open the money door and allow us to play on the arcades for free while eating crisps and drinking bottles of coke. My sister used to have the run of the place on her roller boots while the parents chatted upstairs.
I have a similar memory, my friend’s uncle also owned a pub, Marquis of Granby, Worlds End, Wendover, Buckinghamshire. In my early teens my friend and I would camp in the pub grounds but at the same time we were given free run of the pub during closing times. It’s where I first played pool and got quite good.

The pub was renamed The Village Gate but sadly suffered a catastrophic fire in August 2020. What remains of the pub has been sold and the site will probably redeveloped.


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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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jkbarnes wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 2:07 pmThe closest I’ve come to this experience was being a regular at a bar in college. Not quite the same, though.


Our college bar was something else, three years of fantastic memories and lifelong friendships.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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Richard D wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 2:26 pm Our college bar was something else, three years of fantastic memories and lifelong friendships.
Same for me. My roommate wound up tending bar there, so I was there 24/7. It was nice being recognized when I walked in for years afterwards. It’s still where we all go when visiting school.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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When I was very small I was out in my pushchair with my mother and grandmother. They were probably shopping. Passing a certain local hostelry, I became all excited, pointed animatedly at said hostelry and began to chirp: “Dada…gaga…jinky!” This was preliterate colloquial Avonian, apparently, for: “Oh I say, this is where papa and grandpapa bring me on a Sunday lunchtime while they partake of alcoholic refreshments.”

The way my mother told it, the gentleman were in the canine residence for a while. Dropped in it by a toddler who could barely speak. Mind you, I always reckoned the ladies would have known – beer breath on a Sunday lunchtime? Hmmm. :problem:

jkbarnes wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 2:51 pm
Richard D wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 2:26 pm Our college bar was something else, three years of fantastic memories and lifelong friendships.
Same for me. My roommate wound up tending bar there, so I was there 24/7. It was nice being recognized when I walked in for years afterwards. It’s still where we all go when visiting school.
So glad to hear this. I have very fond memories of our college bar, or beer cellar as it was known. Its official name was Deep Hall, because it was directly below the dining hall. In typical undergraduate parlance of the day, it was always known as Deepers. I was one of the trusted few who used to help out when it was busy. The barman kept a slate of people in credit so that you could chalk a pint up for anyone. The going rate was a pint of best bitter for every half hour worked. Happy memories!

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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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Bars have featured in my life for as long as I can remember, as an end user but also as a place of work. Around '89 I got a job working at a bar in my home city of Cambridge, UK. It would have been one of the few bars outside of London to offer quality, well made cocktails. I got caught up on that early wave of mixology and tossing cocktail shakers etc; it was an amazing time which led to an unforgettable stream of memorable experiences. The bar in question was the most incredible melting pot of poets, rogues, criminals and every kind of character you could ever wish to imagine. On a Friday or Saturday night the place was filled to the rafters, perhaps 200/300 people and blue with smoke and equally blue humour. I will never forget those years, they are an integral part of who I am today. And with the baying crowd desperate to get served, it appeared that everyone knew my name.

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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:06 pmI have very fond memories of our college bar
Unfortunately my college bar along with the campus has long gone, demolished in the name of progress. Shoreditch College of Education, University of London was where I trained to be a teacher. In the early 80s the government of the day decided that woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing were no longer required. Roll on 40 years and try an find a carpenter or indeed any tradespeople.

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All that remains is Presidents Hall now luxury apartments for the super wealthy.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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strapline wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:14 pmblue with smoke and equally blue humour


Yet we survived and in the majority the better for it.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

Post by missF »

I’ve moved around Edinburgh a lot since I came here to study many years ago. Often unsettled, unwell and aimless. But Boda Bar was a Swedish bar where I found a home for a while. I was living in a flat next door and took to going in there to try and find a place to write my diaries and my poetry. I’m an introvert and a bit of a loner but the welcome was so relaxed and generous that I ended up there most days around 4pm for a glass of house red and some writing - usually at the same table. One day the manageress came over to tell me that she had cleared a small nook and put a table and chair there for me to write in. It was always empty for me when I came in. She told me when she was leaving and said that I was the best sort of punter, and it had been a pleasure. I think she got it wrong - it was her management that created what was a really lovely pub.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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missF wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:22 pmBoda Bar was a Swedish bar where I found a home for a while.
You are in great company: https://www.betterreading.com.au/news/b ... rary-bars/.
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Re: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Tales from your Local Pub

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^^ that’s a great list, thanks :thumbup:

Milne’s Bar in Edinburgh was where the greatest Scottish poets of the twentieth century used to meet. It’s still possible to get a table in their ‘nook’, though the pub is right off Princes Street and pretty busy.

But this has me thinking a lot about finding a new pub I can make a home in. I haven’t written for several years, have been pretty ill, have moved house and acquired a dog! Times right to find a new dog friendly pub that I can get writing in :D
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