First Cov pub you had a drink in (11 Viewers)

[Houchens Head]

Thistle? What a boozer. Like it had been lifted straight off a street corner in Scotland and dropped in Coventry. Loved the place.

I got barred from the Thistle! :emoji_grin:

 

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[bringbackrattles]

everyone used to moan about it but looking back it was very vibrant, (albeit a bit violent at times). I think the lack of night clubs was peoples main bug bear as finishing the night in a night club was pretty much compulsory back then but Brum was only up the road and always good for a late night.

I laughed at the bit violent at times. Most weekends were violent ! I recall having words with a doorman at Tiffany's and got battered by him and his mate. Now I'd have reported it but back then it was one of those things !

 

[clint van damme]

I laughed at the bit violent at times. Most weekends were violent ! I recall having words with a doorman at Tiffany's and got battered by him and his mate. Now I'd have reported it but back then it was one of those things !

you certainly had to have your wits about you!

 

[bringbackrattles]

you certainly had to have your wits about you!

Geoff Thompsons book Watch My Back. Coventry most violent city in the UK at that time.

 

[eastwoodsdustman]

you certainly had to have your wits about you!

My mate used to get chucked out of the Parrot every week by Joe Jackson and he'd let him back in the next week and tell him 'no trouble in the club tonight'. Sure enough, He'd get chucked out and let back in the next week.

 

[Gazolba]

What was the first pub you had a beer in? How old were you and is the pub still there?

Mine; Binley Oak aged 14, it's still there but not a pub any longer as far as I know

I don't drink beer so it would have to be cider. It was probably either The Jolly Colliers or The Boat Inn, Shilton Lane.
I don't remember how old I was and the Jolly Colliers is gone, the Boat Inn may still be there I'm not sure.

 

[bringbackrattles]

I don't drink beer so it would have to be cider. It was probably either The Jolly Colliers or The Boat Inn, Shilton Lane.
I don't remember how old I was and the Jolly Colliers is gone, the Boat Inn may still be there I'm not sure.

The Boat still going.

 

[oscillatewildly]

First illicit pint as I recall was in the bar at Whitley racket centre! Aged 15, towards the end of 1981. I was with a mate who had a very weak fluffy tache so he probably passed for nearly 17.
He got served no problem, I got the next round and the barmaid challenged me for my age - "Eighteen" I said, "Are you sure" ? She said, "Yes", I replied with my best deep voice and was promptly served.
First Pub was definitely the Silver Sword in the city centre. Upstairs in what was like an attic before it got developed into the eaterie and then as a club venue. This was also the tail end of 1981. Rumours had been going around at school that it was easy to get served there and I remember looking around the place and recognising kids from Woodlands and Caludon that I'd played football against only weeks before!
Have to fast forward twelve months for my first nightclub venture - Crimbo leave 1982 and the 'Top spot', just up from the Parsons nose, next to the Zodiac. What an almighty hovel that place was!

 

[skybluesam66]

as a 15 year old, around 20 or so of us went on a school trip to York
on the way back we stopped at a pub, and the teacher bought us all half a lager

imagine that today!

 

[westcountry_skyblue]

The Acorn in Potters green think I was 15 but hid with my mates in a corner,Pint of black label or skol if I remember!!

 

[Nick]

Anybody remember

"Pint of harp please chief"

 

[Deleted member 5849]

Beerhouses!! Great term for a boozer.

They were smaller ones, set up in peoples' front rooms effectively. Could only flog you beer and nowt else, plenty of scope for prostitutes and the like to pop in, too!

 

[Nick]

They were smaller ones, set up in peoples' front rooms effectively. Could only flog you beer and nowt else, plenty of scope for prostitutes and the like to pop in, too!

 

[jimmyhillsfanclub]

They were smaller ones, set up in peoples' front rooms effectively. Could only flog you beer and nowt else, plenty of scope for prostitutes and the like to pop in, too!

They are making a bit of a comeback......a combination of the relaxation of planning laws (change of use) + the boom in both micro brewing & artisan gin distilleries......not seen any prostitutes in liverpools latest secret bar.......yet....

 

[clint van damme]

They were smaller ones, set up in peoples' front rooms effectively. Could only flog you beer and nowt else, plenty of scope for prostitutes and the like to pop in, too!

which were your favourites NW?!

 

[Houchens Head]

They were smaller ones, set up in peoples' front rooms effectively. Could only flog you beer and nowt else, plenty of scope for prostitutes and the like to pop in, too!

There's a couple on the island - Newport Ale House and Cowes Ale House. Tiny places, but they serve great beer. Most of it is CAMRA type beer, but really nice. If there's more than 10 customers, it's jam packed!

 

[clint van damme]

There's a couple on the island - Newport Ale House and Cowes Ale House. Tiny places, but they serve great beer. Most of it is CAMRA type beer, but really nice. If there's more than 10 customers, it's jam packed!
View attachment 8630

there's some great pubs on the island H. Proper old school!

 

[B-Ban-Boogie]

Was about 14 when i entered the world of insanity.


There were some right characters in the Grapes, but bloody loved it in there.
The lock-ins were legendary.

 

[Houchens Head]

there's some great pubs on the island H. Proper old school!

I know. I've been barred from a couple already and I've only been here a few years!

 

[Houchens Head]

Was about 14 when i entered the world of insanity.
View attachment 8631

There were some right characters in the Grapes, but bloody loved it in there.
The lock-ins were legendary.

Don't suppose you knew a lad called Dermott Bannigan? He lived just inside Fynford Rd, right by the Grapes.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

I know. I've been barred from a couple already and I've only been here a few years!

First pub barred from is a whole other thread

 

[Deleted member 5849]

which were your favourites NW?!

Prostitutes or beerhouses?

 

[B-Ban-Boogie]

Don't suppose you knew a lad called Dermott Bannigan? He lived just inside Fynford Rd, right by the Grapes.

Yes, i remember Dermott, he was a little older than me though.
We used to joke that he would pour his can of breaker in his cornflakes every morning he was that much of an alkie!!
Passed a few years ago of kidney problems (not surprisingly) if i remember correctly.

 

[clint van damme]

Prostitutes or beerhouses?

both!

 

[Houchens Head]

Yes, i remember Dermott, he was a little older than me though.
We used to joke that he would pour his can of breaker in his cornflakes every morning he was that much of an alkie!!
Passed a few years ago of kidney problems (not surprisingly) if i remember correctly.

Yep. That was Dermott alright. He was in my class at Ullathorne. I'd heard he died many years ago of alcohol related problems. Shame really. He was okay. Good mate of mine in school. All us Irish lads tended to hang around together.

 

[Sick Boy]

They were smaller ones, set up in peoples' front rooms effectively. Could only flog you beer and nowt else, plenty of scope for prostitutes and the like to pop in, too!

I live opposite one. It's full of weird ale drinkers with long beer stained beards.

 

[chiefdave]

Colin Campbell aged 13, a pint of Brew XI please, it tasted horrible

Can't really remember but it was probably the Campbell for me as well. Would likely have been a cider or snakebite upstairs on a Saturday night.

 

[chiefdave]

Imagine a 14 year old walking into a pub now and trying to get a beer.

I remember the police coming in to my school to do the 'drugs are bad' talk. They got asked about drinking and basically said they couldn't care less about under age drinkers in pubs as long as they weren't causing trouble. That would never be said now.

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

The craftsman aged around 15 it was a real shock to the owner when we went in there for my mates 18th as he said I have been serving you lot for three years it would have been cider for me.

 

[martcov]

Ha! Yeah that’s it. Than to the place that is now some kind of strip club ironically at the time named the Climax I think?

Originally had a Coventry Climax engine in a display... hence the name... worked there when I was 20. Nello‘s was opposite... He made upstairs into a „Bistrotheque“. Disco with food to get the late licence. Pete Waterman started the disco with Nello. Or at least was his advisor. I worked there a few times for Nello, after closing time at the Climax.

 

[martcov]

My first pint was in the Summerland Tavern in the Butts. I was about 14 or 15 and if I recall, it cost 1/11d (just under 10p!). My mate, who was the same age as me, went up to the bar and got served coz he looked a lot older than me! And just going on from this, I had my first ciggie aged 11. I'd wagged school (for the umpteenth time) and ended up spending my week's dinner money on 10 Embassy and a book of matches. (Half-a-crown piece in a fag machine on the wall outside a shop!) It must have taken me a bloody week to smoke them! I've given up now though!

My first beer was also 1/11d. Craven Arms, Chapelfields. 15 years old. Remember decimalisation and the price being rounded up to 10p ( 2 shillings ). We made our own halfcrowns at metalwork after official school closing time.... teachers impressed at our interest in metalwork...

 

[Grendel]

My first beer was also 1/11d. Craven Arms, Chapelfields. 15 years old. Remember decimalisation and the price being rounded up to 10p ( 2 shillings ). We made our own halfcrowns at metalwork after official school closing time.... teachers impressed at our interest in metalwork...

You sound almost nostalgic for something quintessentially British.

 

[martcov]

You sound almost nostalgic for something quintessentially British.

Yes, which is why I created a Coventry, „Old Chapelfields Style“ pub in Kiel and put pictures of Cov and City things in it. Then moved in above it. There is full page story entitled „a small piece of Coventry“ in the internet from the local paper which explains it .... in German.

It is possible to be very British and live in the EU, even without a blue passport.

 

[Sky_Blue_Daz]

First pub barred from is a whole other thread

I got barred from the Wallace for a while

 

[shmmeee]

Local: Probably the Phantom Coach, possibly the Herald at 15 (when I started drinking)

Town: Silvers, just before I was 16.