Anything goes in The Snug, General Discussion's rebellious little brother. An off-topic den of iniquity where any subject not covered elsewhere may be discussed. Well, anything except golf, Star Wars and Arsenal.
Was it Monday to Saturday 10.30am til 2.30pm then 5pm till 11pm and Sundays were 12pm-3pm then 7pm til 10.30pm.
Remember the rush to the bar at around 2pm and you'd each get about four beers to cane.
You really had to binge to get your beers in. I remember, other than lock ins, finding pubs on a Sunday that did a roast dinner so they could stay open all day.
My brother lived by a pub in Penge, I think it was the one which hanged a David Beckham effigy in 98, which had great lock ins. There would be two tables of poker players, one low limit and the other lower limit.
Remember it well.
And while the modern hours are better.
I do feel they killed the best drink of the week.
The Sunday lunch time session was always superb.
I remember knocking on the door at 6pm for the landlord to open up for us for the evening session.
I also remember the best lock-ins were the spontaneous ones where the pub was rocking and the landlord just kept on pulling pints after hours before you even noticed it was gone 11.
Last edited by Chicken Run Supreme on Mon May 29, 2023 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sundays were agonisingly **** when I was a kid. When the pub started opening all day (with lots of sports to watch, too), along with the shop trading hours relaxing, sundays went from the rubbishest day of the week to my favourite.
Sundays in Cambridge were 12-2pm then 7pm - 10.30. The landlord used to let you through the side door at 11.45 so you could shovel in a couple of extra pints.
That's when the pubs around the markets (Borough, Smithfields and Spittlefields) came into their own as they operated around market hours. Always good for an 8am pint.
hammer etc wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 12:13 am
Pubs used to be closed on Sundays in Wales, by law. I also used to go to a pub were the landlord would not let women in on there own.
I can remember the old working mens clubs where Women were barred from certain bars
I remember that dancing wasn't allowed in Bournemouth on Sundays back in the 80s or early 90s..
We were in a pub with a DJ playing and they had a look out who'd tell them when a police dance patrol was nearby. Then the whole place stopped dancing & milled about for a couple of minutes til they'd gone.
Shabu wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 3:30 am
I remember that dancing wasn't allowed in Bournemouth on Sundays back in the 80s or early 90s..
We were in a pub with a DJ playing and they had a look out who'd tell them when a police dance patrol was nearby. Then the whole place stopped dancing & milled about for a couple of minutes til they'd gone.
Of course, it could have been a big wind up.
Please tell me that you met with Kevin Bacon in the dance off final.
Shabu wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 3:30 am
I remember that dancing wasn't allowed in Bournemouth on Sundays back in the 80s or early 90s..
We were in a pub with a DJ playing and they had a look out who'd tell them when a police dance patrol was nearby. Then the whole place stopped dancing & milled about for a couple of minutes til they'd gone.
I think we've finally unmasked who Shabu really is.
Think opening hours used to be determined by local authorities. Tuesday nights were definitely half-ten closing in East Ham back in the day, but as said above there were definitely 'lock-ins' all over the country.
Recall a a few boozers in Hackney that did this regularly. Best place for 'a bit of afters' was the Lady Diana (long before she passed) in Dalston. It was a 'coppers' pub' full of old bill, but the lights would be dimmed and curtains drawn at 11 pm and on you go. Abbot & St. Edmund's L&B mostly.
Read an anecdote from rural Ireland whereby the copper would come round and do his duty "Dat's enough lads" then people would leave and then queue up by the back door to continue, including the copper. Dunno how true that is or just a funny story.
I used to work in The Artichoke in Brentwood (not sure if still there?).
Sundays were great. Short lunchtime shift followed by cleaning the beer pipes. After that I was entitled to whatever was left from the carvery and there was always plenty. Huge pile of spuds, yorkies and meat. Plus a bit of veg to make it healthy. Washed it down with a few pints to make sure the pipes were clean and then a couple of hours kip on one of the padded bench seats then back at it for the short evening stint.
vietnammer wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 5:58 pm
Read an anecdote from rural Ireland whereby the copper would come round and do his duty "Dat's enough lads" then people would leave and then queue up by the back door to continue, including the copper. Dunno how true that is or just a funny story.
Years back the landlord of my local used to organise a horse racing holiday to Kilkee in County Clare. Basically a week's piss up. Our favourite pub was the Central Hotel and despite Ireland having licencing laws the police from the nick in Ennis never drove across to enforce them.
Well unless it was Sunday. Which we didn't know, as we wandered down to the pub at 11am only to find it all locked up. We were peering through the windows and tapping on the glass until the landlady appeared and quickly ushered us in and got us our Guinness. The pub was full of blokes in their Sunday best all hiding from mass. Low and behold at about 11.30 sarge came down, peer through the window and then drove to the next boozer.
V-M wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 7:38 pm
I used to work in The Artichoke in Brentwood (not sure if still there?)..
Still there and still going strong.
In fact it was the first ever Toby Carvery after a Charringtons executive came up with the idea. He lived down Priests Lane hence why he chose the Artichoke to pilot the idea.
He died some years back but my mum knows his wife.
Shabu wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 3:30 am
I remember that dancing wasn't allowed in Bournemouth on Sundays back in the 80s or early 90s..
We were in a pub with a DJ playing and they had a look out who'd tell them when a police dance patrol was nearby. Then the whole place stopped dancing & milled about for a couple of minutes til they'd gone.
Of course, it could have been a big wind up.
The Elephants head in Camden town was like that in the early 2000s on a Sunday. Think it was down to their licence,but after a visit from the council all these no dancing signs appeared in the pub.
I seem to recall weekday and Saturday lunch times were 11:00 to 15:00 and Sundays were 12:00 to 14:00. Evenings were 17:30 to either 22:30 or 23:00 and 19:00 to 22:30 on Sundays.
The break between 15:00 and 17:30 when on a Beano to Southend made for entertaining times, the go karts and bowling alley in particular getting our unwanted attention comes to mind. That's before returning to The Forresters right on 17:30 with a banging headache where the first pint lasted an hour as it was like drinking fizzy gravel, once done though that was it, buzzing for the night session.......
RichieRiv wrote: ↑Mon May 29, 2023 7:37 pm
That's when the pubs around the markets (Borough, Smithfields and Spittlefields) came into their own as they operated around market hours. Always good for an 8am pint.
There used to be one in Clerkenwell, right next to Farringdon Station back in the 80s where the postal workers used to drink and it'd be open really early. Remember one morning getting rained off a site I was working in and being hammered by 10am. Happy days.
