Remember The Old Bulls Head Little Hucklow in the 1970s?

[oscar 215 10]

love to see the photo to show my friend over in California, who's trying to remember if it's the right place - can you upload photos to the Forum?

 

I would be very pleased to get the photo to you, it is a print. Oak beams with brasses and stuff can be seen but mostly, it is 'us' blocking the view.I am not sure how to go about it., we could maybe scan the photo...download it to my computer..then e.mail it to you. Or I could take a photograph....(of the photograph) !! download it and send, . I'll speak to my Son who knows about these things...in any event... I'll need your e.mail address...I'll send you mine via the message box..DJ.

[Arthur Bell 10]

Hello..Adelai..The 'Old Bulls Head' at Little Hucklow, was one of our favourite 'Derbyshire village pubs' As young people back in the early 70s..we would drive out from Sheffield and do all the village inns with low beams,horse brasses,stone walls and cosy fires.We have done them all. Our furthest calling point was the 'Wanted Inn' at 'Sparrowpit'. Making our way back in..we would finish at the Bulls Head...mainly cos' they never closed !!! L.O.L///The Landlords name was 'Bernard Saunders' small, smart,bald and as you point out a bit of a character..offer him a drink and it would be a 'Babycham' !!..I went by the pub last Summer and sadly it was crumbling and derelict..a cosy pub..no more..changing times I guess..you can see the pub on 'Google Street view' on Google Earth'...cheers DJ.. S20

 

Bernard Saunders and his wife Myra were friends of My Aunt and Uncle (Peggy and Don Sampson). My Aunt Peggy and Myra worked together at Grandby Garments in Bakewell during the war. The Saunders got their first pub in Great Longstone about 1947. I think it was called the Red Lion. Bernard had a set of false teeth with diamonds embedded in the two top teeth. They must have moved to Little Hucklow later. The Sampsons ( my aunt and uncle) kept the Industry Inn in Chesterfield.

[Adelai 10]

Hi Arthur

That's really interesting. Must be the same person. Oscar (above) has just sent me his photo from the 70s inside the pub. Bernard was really great and we all remember evenings at the pub with great fondness.

[Howardsson 10]

What a pleasure to read the accumulated contributions from all of you who remembered and enjoyed The Old Bulls Head. As that person who sparked off the discussion by asking my friend about it, I little suspected such an active (and immediate) set of responses. Learning Bernard's name and the history he apparently brought with him to his wonderful establishment in Little Hucklow has put a brighter glow to the memory I have of my one visit there. He projected the perfect aura for the place...complementing the cozy rooms which were adorned with such an interesting, eclectic assortment of knicks and knacks.

 

In my single visit there, I wandered up to the the bar to buy a round for the people who had brought me and immediately felt welcome by Bernard's quick wit and encompassing warmth. It was while he was drawing some ale that I noticed the handles on the ale spigots. They were a light colored wood and unusually long compared to most of the pouring handles I'd ever seen in pubs. Then I noticed the figures carved into the wood and mentioned that they were not the ordinary handles. He smiled and assured me that they weren't. Topping off some of the glasses, he said that the figures were after Shakesperean characters. (He pointed out Falstaff...intuiting by telepathy or the amount of drink I'd already consumed...my favorite Shakespeare character.) And, he added, they were originally the handles of the bells that old timey night watchmen would carry and ring..."All is well", etc. It struck me then as one of the more clever, brilliant, utilitarian and even artistic conversions of an old object that I've ever run across. I mean, if I were an old night watchman's bell handle and having been made redundant by various modern advances...what better place would there be for me in my dotage?

 

In the decades since visiting The Old Bulls Head, and because I waste a lot of time thinking about trivial things, I've thought about Bernard (and much gratitude to you for providing his name) and those ale pump handles. Did they originally come as a set? If they did, my thoughts will often wander down the path towards more questions...If they were a set, were they made for one town? How many night watchmen would a town need that a set of carved Shakesperean handles would be made? Or, was there some woodworker's factory someplace where the handles were all crafted and then sold around the region? By the time I get to this point in my thinking, I'm usually brought back down to reality by the two to twenty cars behind me whose livid drivers are leaning on their horns to alert me that the traffic light changed a minute earlier and to move my daydreaming self along.

 

In sum, I did want to contribute what I could to this thread which was started on my behalf by a kind and dear friend. Also, my very sincere thanks to everyone for volunteering their memories. It is the kind of response that I will always remember and identify in my heart with the enthusiasm and warmth shown by our friend Bernard Saunders and the way it was reflected in his cozy and remarkable pub. A Proper Pub for sure.

 

Many thanks and regards to all.

[oscar 215 10]

Bernard Saunders and his wife Myra were friends of My Aunt and Uncle (Peggy and Don Sampson). My Aunt Peggy and Myra worked together at Grandby Garments in Bakewell during the war. The Saunders got their first pub in Great Longstone about 1947. I think it was called the Red Lion. Bernard had a set of false teeth with diamonds embedded in the two top teeth. They must have moved to Little Hucklow later. The Sampsons ( my aunt and uncle) kept the Industry Inn in Chesterfield.

 

Thankyou for that information Arthur...fascinating connections indeed.....It is interesting to see that you are replying from Canada ?.... and obviously keep an eye, now and again on the 'Forum' .. Cheers..DJ/UK.

[Tofty 10]

love to see the photo to show my friend over in California, who's trying to remember if it's the right place - can you upload photos to the Forum?

 

There's a pic of a sad looking pub on these web page

http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/derbyshire/littlehucklow_yeoldebullshead.html

http://www.peakcountrybreaks.co.uk/bullsheadcastleton.html

Edited January 27, 2011 by Tofty

[USUK 10]

I believe I knew a couple of regulars from the pub who moved to California

[oscar 215 10]

What a pleasure to read the accumulated contributions from all of you who remembered and enjoyed The Old Bulls Head. As that person who sparked off the discussion by asking my friend about it, I little suspected such an active (and immediate) set of responses. Learning Bernard's name and the history he apparently brought with him to his wonderful establishment in Little Hucklow has put a brighter glow to the memory I have of my one visit there. He projected the perfect aura for the place...complementing the cozy rooms which were adorned with such an interesting, eclectic assortment of knicks and knacks.

 

In my single visit there, I wandered up to the the bar to buy a round for the people who had brought me and immediately felt welcome by Bernard's quick wit and encompassing warmth. It was while he was drawing some ale that I noticed the handles on the ale spigots. They were a light colored wood and unusually long compared to most of the pouring handles I'd ever seen in pubs. Then I noticed the figures carved into the wood and mentioned that they were not the ordinary handles. He smiled and assured me that they weren't. Topping off some of the glasses, he said that the figures were after Shakesperean characters. (He pointed out Falstaff...intuiting by telepathy or the amount of drink I'd already consumed...my favorite Shakespeare character.) And, he added, they were originally the handles of the bells that old timey night watchmen would carry and ring..."All is well", etc. It struck me then as one of the more clever, brilliant, utilitarian and even artistic conversions of an old object that I've ever run across. I mean, if I were an old night watchman's bell handle and having been made redundant by various modern advances...what better place would there be for me in my dotage?

 

In the decades since visiting The Old Bulls Head, and because I waste a lot of time thinking about trivial things, I've thought about Bernard (and much gratitude to you for providing his name) and those ale pump handles. Did they originally come as a set? If they did, my thoughts will often wander down the path towards more questions...If they were a set, were they made for one town? How many night watchmen would a town need that a set of carved Shakesperean handles would be made? Or, was there some woodworker's factory someplace where the handles were all crafted and then sold around the region? By the time I get to this point in my thinking, I'm usually brought back down to reality by the two to twenty cars behind me whose livid drivers are leaning on their horns to alert me that the traffic light changed a minute earlier and to move my daydreaming self along.

 

In sum, I did want to contribute what I could to this thread which was started on my behalf by a kind and dear friend. Also, my very sincere thanks to everyone for volunteering their memories. It is the kind of response that I will always remember and identify in my heart with the enthusiasm and warmth shown by our friend Bernard Saunders and the way it was reflected in his cozy and remarkable pub. A Proper Pub for sure.

 

Many thanks and regards to all.

 

Hello Howardsson.. Well done..your text reads more like a short story !...fascinating.. thanks so much. I was pleased to contribute to the 'Bulls Head' thread.. as it brought back so many memories for me/us also....If you wish to see the now derelict pub, as it is today... Go to 'Google Earth' to street view .. the former pub is the first building on the left as you go up the lane from the B6049.. white, but grimy and crumbling..so sad..but the times they are a' changing...Cheers DJ.

[oscar 215 10]

There's a pic of a sad looking pub on these web page

http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/derbyshire/littlehucklow_yeoldebullshead.html

http://www.peakcountrybreaks.co.uk/bullsheadcastleton.html

 

Gotcha'.... Tofty..thanks for the two links.. spot on..! DJ.

[Howardsson 10]

Cheers to you as well, Oscar. And thank you for the kind words. Not sure that I have it in me to look at its ruin via the Google capabilities. For the time being, at least, I expect I'll continue to keep the rosy glow of that particular memory intact...veering away from anything that might dim it any more.

 

If I am able to cut out some time, and get back to your area for a visit, a pilgrimage to LIttle Hucklow would certainly be in order. I could lift an ale up to the old building...one derelict to another, so to speak...toasting it in silence and bowing my head.

 

Then I could run my head into any low doorway that might still remain to really catch that Old Bulls Head mystique again, yeah?

 

And, as thanks for everyone's contribution on this thread, if you visit the West Coast I would be pleased to point you to some of the Brew Pubs or Craft Breweries that have sprouted up in the last decade or two...or, if near San Diego...you might get me as the designated driver who likes to collect stories...

 

Best Wishes to Everyone.

[johncocker 10]

reminds me of a story about the maintenence carpenter at oxford uni when tolkein was there, he'd carved the leading characters from the lord of the rings on to is tool handels.the plumber not to be outdone named all of is tools after them, is blowlamp being "smaug "of course

[Barry Smith 10]

Great memories of driving out to the bulls head, in deep snow in the 60s, in an old moggy 1000 van. Snow was almost over the van roof,we must have been mad but great fun