First years in a pub, mine was a Brown split, (Brown ale & bitter or pale ale, Half & half)..............my Dad used to call it a Shirley Bassey...........wouldn't get away with that nowadays!!
First for me was a Light Split costing 1s8d. I bet Wiz can beat that. Now love real ale, especially during the winter months particularly Cheddar Ales, Potholer straight from the barrel. I'll bet Jg2 knows the pub. Summer for me and it's 5% lagers, Peroni, Stella, Heineken. Drinking in home weekends there's nothing better for me and Mrs R than a bottle of red.
Not really, pint Courage cooking bitter 11d pint, Courage best bitter about one shilling and tuppence, a split was about 1s8d to two bob, a good whisky half a crown, earned £6.17.6d for a 46 hour week.
That’s what we called a brown top, I forget that people called it Brown Split Wine to me all taste like sarsons. I remember a friend saying it’s because you’ve never had a good bottle as we were at some posh function. He said try this one and when I did and nearly threw up in my mouth he said my pallet must be ****ed
Wiz, Tbf my first Light Split was at my cricket club, obviously cheaper than buying in a Bristol pub. Rod, my dear mum in law was exactly the same as you. The only wine she ever liked was a dessert wine enjoyed Christmas day lunchtime. We love it with Christmas Pudding, she just necked hers. She was one special beautiful lady.
Bitter ale split ..Simmonds in blue labelled bottle … courage cooking 1s 8d around 1966/7 Thursday night 3 at the Wingrove stopped at Bryan bros Bath road for 1 gallon in the Cooper into town Top rank after a few pints elsewhere finished with 3 pints in there [ used to split rounds with my mate 3 4 3 ] that was minimum as used to mine sweep as well! 2 quid often change from night out! [ never paid at top rank … ] even when show waddy waddy was sold out …
The Black Horse in Portbury used to serve direct from the barrel - they had old flagstones on the floor and muskets on the wall - and pewter tankards hanging everywhere. The Ring O Bells in Compton Martin also had barrels behind the bar. Happy days
my mates pub back then! also pewter for the locals! My watering hole has my pot hanging on its hook above the bar .. along with about 100 others … and beer from the barrel
My goodness guys you are starting to sound like the Brits I socialized with in the Canary Islands. The day would always start with the current price of beer at local venues followed slowly by their vague recollections of where they might have been the night before. Many of them were incapable of rising before lunch unless there was a happy hour in the area and the usual excuse for seeming like they were in an alien world was generally put down to a dodgy curry or a bad bag of crisps. I was never a pub type of guy but this thread has brought back some wonderful memories of the daily routine in Caleta de Fuste so thank you for some laughs to remind me of the 12 wonderful winters I spent in the company of mainly English/Scottish winter escapees.
@bcfcredandwhite cheers for your post on the thread I linked over on our board - jeesh, I thought I was bad........
The beer with a huge consumer base, but fails to deliver. It promises a lot, with a fine bottle and label, but never really hits the spot and leaves the consumer frustrated, with a bitter taste most times after drinking it. The brewery keep selling the best ingredients to other breweries, who seem to be able to use them to make far more successful products, but fails to replace them - plus some of the remaining barley and maize ingredients gets spoilt so often it can’t be used and changing the master brewer didn’t help. Right now, remaining a second-rate beer is the priority. It’ll never class as Premium the way things are.........
on a Monday dinner time 40 odd years ago myself and a couple of others were in a certain pub on MENDIP and consumed a pint of the first ever commercial brew [may have even been the first paying customers ] of Butcombe cant remember how many barrels were delivered [ to how many pubs] our pub had 2, I think most others 1 "trial" barrel ] our pub was first delivered to ? and after tapping rather than let it sit for a while Landlord pulled a few pints ...it was straight from the barrel ..still is but at one time it was he main beer [ nick named belly bulger ]with odd barrel of guest … a brewer left Butcombe to stat Cheddar ales that is now the dominant one ..POTHOLER …...
And the Winford Arms did. My drinking in pubs is way post decimalisation, and my first recollection of cost when I was paying rather than people buying me beer on holiday when I was well underage, was 25p a pint for Whitbread Trophy. Which, by the way, was truly awful as was Watneys Starlight, Brew XI, etc and I soon went off beer on to lager. Although I did used to like Flowers Original, Courage Directors, and I always did like Brown ales like Manns and Newcastle Brown. Even now I'll have a bottle of chilled Newcastle Brown when the mood takes me.
I used to go in the Winford arms a lot in the mid to late 70s, usually after a few beers in the Kings Head, and then drop into the Towns Talk to finish us off!! Then around 2004 for a while they sponsored our footie club
In an old log book was a reference to ordering 6 pints badger beer and 6 packets of crisps … only to find I had changed my trousers and money was not in pocket … so had to borrow a ten bob note to go with the half crown I did have ... ! ...got change as well, so sort of went out had a few pints and came home with more than I went with! sad or not I still have the brown corduroy trousers... the pair I bought in 2008 to replace them [ shop near Loch Lomond ] been worn once! … but not on a walk!
