Were Pubs Better In The 60s??

[euclid 10]

I remember taking part in a survey of pubs still serving beer with traditional handpumps in the early 1970s. This resulted in the first beer guide for Sheffield and District branch of CAMRA. We could only find a handful - the fizzy keg and lager revolution was well under way

What a lot of people may not realise is, traditional handpumps were replaced originally with electric ones for hygiene reasons...when a pint was pulled (and i pulled many) the beer that overflowed...the glass and barman/maids hand... went into the drip tray, then back into the pipe, (which had a t-piece in it) bringing up beer from the barrel in the cellar and back thro' the handpump to overflow over the glass and someones hand again into another persons drink...not very hygienic, especially if the drip tray was full of fag ash too ..the old wooden barrels also had (soft) wooden pegs in the hole in the top to enable the beer to come thro,so in reality "real ale" was flat beer,even so if a 36/45 gallon barrel wasn't getting supped much..the newer style metal ones were sealed and needed a gas canister to push the beer thro' or a vacuum would have been created..this also meant the beer was fresher and more gassy because the gas was not escaping from the still fermenting ales.... ( anyone who has brewed their own will know what i mean)....lots of beer pulled off from new barrels till it was clear ...and i would imagine in some cases any left and not supped...would find its way back into the barrel overnight thro' a rice paper filter and brass funnel

[neepsendlane 11]

Enjoyed reading about the above stories regards pubs back in the 60s etc

Bare with me

 

Im from Scotland and contemplating a house exchange to Sheffield

i think its the same all over now with regards pubs , i remember in the 70s

pubs were very busy and better also , although i never smoked

most others did, people smoked away and had a few beers

or spirits , and had a laugh and had entertainment in pubs so unlike today

where bars now have changed

into like pub Restaurants where meals is where much of the trade is made

 

Beer is also getting too expensive now , and many folks have taken to their house

with a carry out from Asdas or Tescos as its so much cheaper

then some if they want to risk it going out then head out at 9 pm

for a cple of drinks, but now many young women

ive seen falling around out of it , and fights etc ..was much better in the 70s

which i remember used to always play Darts and them days their was always

folks chalking the boards unlike now , as theyre always empty until Darts night

once a week

i remember playing Jocky Wilson before he made the big time

when he never had much , he liked a drink , as did all the many others also

 

played him for a fiver when i never knew then whom he was lol

was fun times though, also met that guy later in Wembley Conference centre London

in 1979 as he came over shouted you a Fifer m8 and showed him our table

 

as he sat in our company , he was just back from America playing for Scotland

and was fun company ..then again in the 80s when he was World Champ

i remember like it was yday i was in a small Lounge in Forfar in Tayside region

where they had County Darts

whilst the crowds were up in a big room , i ventured myself into this small Lounge

for a throw at the board , thought the room was closed i thought

until i tried door in which was open

 

Anyhow woman was behind bar so i ordered a pint, then went over to Dartboard

cabinet and then begin throwing away for say 15 mins, when the door opens

and who pops there head in the door, from the many whom were in the main room

Ye Jocky Wilson again and sais ok if i get a throw at the board woth you m8

i sais no probs , not bad a felt when the then World Champ asks if its ok for a throw

at the board with you

 

Anyhow i remember asking Jocky how he got along with

Eric Bristow and he sais fine and that he liked Eric and was only a Scotland v England

thing and fun when they played , i guess they had much fun and banter together

Anyhow he Jocky i never mentioned about when i was under age at 17yrs

in that bar in Fife when he came over asking whose on the board

and then guy sais the young lad <-- Me ..he Jocky sais Money

i played him for £5 and he won just

a wasnt a bad player them days mind you

But back to in the Plough Inn in Tayside anyhow later word went round Jocky Wilson

was in the lounge throwing at the board, and some young lassies and lads came through

and Jocky bought many a beer in that Lounge before he left for his game for Fife

whom were playing V Tayside region

 

I remember this guy from Tayside coming over

to the dartboard and sais to Jocky , im playing you and ill beat you , and Jocky replied

well then we shall have to wait and see then wont we with that infectious upon his face

and i see it now as i type Sad about his demise and his death likes ..

 

But then like now was rather silly i thought, someone saying to the then World champion and ill beat you

i thought id have to watch this game , so i went throw and watched Jockys game

and Jocky destroyed the guy and won all his games , and he never sais anything at all

back to that guy when he won easily and just walked away from the board with darts in hand

 

i kinda liked that wee guy but dont think much of the many fellow Fifers

whom spoke not to nice about Jocky long before his Death

and they then put up at the time of Jocky Death on the Fife darts website

" Sorry to hear of the death of 2 times World Champion Scotlands Jocky Wilson "

 

Just 2 faced ***** i say to them and also very Jealous natured feckers

whom couldnt lace my boots at Darts, never mind Jocky Wilsons

 

Anyhow the main topic was Pubs in the 60s compared with todays

i wasnt in pubs in the 60s though i can bet they were so much better

for a start Music today is crap , people in them days were better and friendlier

jobs were easier got , now if your out of work in which so many young 20 yr old

lads and lassies are then they get hassled from their respective job centres

to go onto say some meanigless college offer for work experience

in which in the end of such theyre back to square one on the dole

 

True story here i even remember when i was fit and 29 yrs of age in 1990

and after just finishing up on a holiday camp job for the season in Ayr

i went to join an Agency in Glasgow and stayed there for a spell at that time

 

went signed this form in with my details date birth etc

sais i was into taking anything going to the female behind the desk

anyhow i then left and very next morning gets a fone call

was the same female whom took my form the day before, saying come in as we have somthing for you

 

So i bus it into city centre of Glasgow and made my way to the office

went upstairs in the lift, knocked on the door and that females voice sais

come in , i then walk in the door, and she then puts her head down upon her

table in front

and sais Oops Sorry but your to old ..Now this is genuine that i was told i was to old

at 29 yrs of age , i felt 1 ft tall , and she then sais Sorry about that

here is your bus fare back , i mean is that not taking the **** , if not then a dont know what is ?

 

Also remember the 80s with the miners strikes etc in Fife and other areas in Scotland and England also

and jobs then were like you had 3 mths of Labouring in a meaningless job

with your local council (Job Creation ) think it was called, and then back on the dole

to get more hassle , then again another meaningless job creation job for a few mths

with the council again mixing cement and such crap

what ws there to learn doh ..i mean at peace break i walked into the wooden hut

and you would open yer peace box up and be feckin biting into some other fecks peace

as some **** would have swapped everyones sandwiches around on the quiet

 

Also wore wellies - wellington boots as was muddy out with the rain and such and cold as **** also

then some of us would carry football boots as i did them days we would play football at break time

then back into hut to change our football boots, fir Wellington boots for work again

and some poor guys Wellies would be nailed to the feckin floor

i mean that is learning ( Job creation ) learning for experience , aye richt

 

Anyhow some of the guys i worked with since them days some are now dead

dead in their 40s and such because many took to drink and drugs

 

I never got involved with such and managed to get out of that mining village

which was ok yrs back , but them days i hear is like a hell hole

no jobs , no future whatsoever , i see now for the younger guys and girls

the same as yrs back in the early 80s, as for Tory David Cameron and his

Puppet Nick Clegg, and Ian Duncan Smith whom have certain hand-picked

not very nice individuals now working to have Disabled people

have their money stopped, in which has already been proved they are over doing this

and many folks whom are genuinely not able to work, are having their incomes

taken away from them and are seen fit to work

 

Now even a genuinely blind man was taken off his benefits as was a woman

here whom was sais to be fit for work, but hey that very woman Died not long after

with her illness

 

These people (Tory Parasites) in a short time, do not know what many folks

are going through on a Daily basis and they also do not care

as theyre only thought and motive is to get disabled people off benefits and into work

in which at the end of the day as said even young people whom are fit to work

cant find a job as there are None ..Rant Over

Larky its Christmas near enough and all the big time Charley's in Govermant should have to read your post before they stuff themselves on the fat of the land.Cheers Buddy

[LA Blade 10]

"I enjoyed the pubs in Sheffield in the 60's - and trips out to Derbyshire.:

 

I have to second this comment

[Harleyman 12]

Yes they were better and they didnt have a bloody TV set behind the bar. Conversation killers

[TAT 10]

Spot on, very fond memories of the Blue Bell Inn, Lathkildale, the Hermitage at the bottom of the Moor. Sadly these places have long gone, I agree with you about the pubs of today and the louts, thugs etc causing fights etc. Australia is just the same in the cities, every week people get mugged, stabbed, you name it. The sixties were the best times by far.

 

Delboy Canberra Australia.

 

The Hermitage was at the bottom of London Rd as i recall and now renamed the Scoolar . I stand to be corrected.

[nomoney 10]

first pint cost 1shilling and 10pence and it was Wards,nectre off the Gods,pubs where you went to meet friends and family and have a drink,not to get ****** out of your mind like the idiots of to day,and that goes for women as well as men,what a sad world we live in to day.

[Jim Hardie 525]

first pint cost 1shilling and 10pence and it was Wards,nectre off the Gods,pubs where you went to meet friends and family and have a drink,not to get ****** out of your mind like the idiots of to day,and that goes for women as well as men,what a sad world we live in to day.

 

Thanks for bumping this thread. Worth it if only for the classic No.11 post.

Come back larky.

[TORONTONY 10]

first pint cost 1shilling and 10pence and it was Wards,nectre off the Gods,pubs where you went to meet friends and family and have a drink,not to get ****** out of your mind like the idiots of to day,and that goes for women as well as men,what a sad world we live in to day.

 

Especially when you are skint eh?

[mikeG 16]

In 1960, the Sportsman in Crosspool charged 1/8 for a pint of Mansfield bitter in the lounge and 1/6 in the tap room where there was an open fire in the winter. A great place to meet but I went in a couple of years ago and wasn't impressed. The ambience had gone.

[Banksia 10]

I would hazard a guess at Australia,because of his username.

Also due to the fact that just below it,it says...Australia lol.

 

You're a bloodhound mate !

[bantycock 10]

Love it....

Larky's post should be nominated "post of the month".

 

Probly took a month to type it out

[fatrajah 10]

Anybody remember the advert in the Sheffield Star for the Blue Bell Inn at Hackenthorpe? It went: "All roads lead the Blue Bell Inn, the Palladium of the North". A bit over the top? Beer in the 1960s was quite weak & inferior to many of the locally produced beers available nowadays. The Lathkildale Hotel is still in business by the way.