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The great Sheffield down Town pub run 1960-80ish

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It was free love in the Bull and Mouth , for some:hihi:

 

I used to like the free tripe after a match at Hillsborough on a Saturday afternoon, a walk into town in time for opening time. Some market people would be in after the market closed and free bits and bobs handed around. A bit of tripe set you up for a night of drinking, like blotting paper for the stomach lol:thumbsup::thumbsup:

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I used to like the free tripe after a match at Hillsborough on a Saturday afternoon, a walk into town in time for opening time. Some market people would be in after the market closed and free bits and bobs handed around. A bit of tripe set you up for a night of drinking, like blotting paper for the stomach lol:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

Free tripe during and after the match was it TORONTO!!!:hihi:

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Free tripe during and after the match was it TORONTO!!!:hihi:

 

Ha ha ,no prizes for guessing who you cheer for. Is the pavilion still there ? lol:P

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Am I wrong here ? Was the Locarno not dry - served nothing stronger than a Mint Julep and that this was one of the the reasons everyone fortified themselves before entering.

It was on Sunday night, used to be teenagers night, same on Saturdays at the Cutlers Hall. You had to get a pass out then get loaded up in the Stone House.

It's great to read about all these pubs we used to go in in the early to mid 60s, I must admit I couldn't have named them all now,and certainly not which beer they sold, great memories from the pub crawls we used to have up West street and Division street.

I do rememember being in the Cutlers one Saturday night when some of the West Indies cricket team who were playing at the Lane came in. Including Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths, talk about lads among giants. I was 5'10" and felt about 4 foot.

Edited by gomgeg

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Stone house gone now, we had good nights up town in the 60s, Albert pub going

up west st and the Saddle and West St Hotel and many more.

By the way my dad always told me if your having a good night on beer break a

couple of eggs into a glass and gulp it down, that suppose to line the belly.

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Rightiho , Now that we have covered the Town centre pubs may be we can branch out and include our local working mens clubs .

I will start with my very own first membership that being the one and only MIDHILL on East Bank Road .

At around ten years old in 1953 I was first introduced to this smashing little club by my brother in law Tom Hegarty who was captain of the football team , Tom was known by his nick name Tiger.

 

My job on a Saturday afternoons at that time was to take the orange juice to the players at half time .

No simple job was that for a four and half stone bag of bones who had to climb the stone steps that lead to the one in five sloping football pitch that stood above the club .

 

So with a gallon tin pitcher I would set of and hope to reach the dizzy hight of the pitch that stood high on the hill above the club hoping not to trip up and spill the lot .

 

One of my other jobs on those Saturdays was to fetch the ball back from the bottom of East Bank Road as once it started rolling down that hill there was no stopping it until it hit the dip near Ceylon House.

 

For my efforts I would get free crisps and a bottle of dandelion and burdock or Tizer after the match as I sat and listened to all the uffing and tuffing going on in the club by these giant players after the match.

 

The Midhill also introduced me to my first glimpse of the sea when in August of that same year I was transported by motor coach to the East coast resort of sunny Cleethorpes .

 

This trip entailed around 20 busses lining Up East Bank Road and being filled with club members kids .

Like my self this was the only way that many kids ever got away and again like me the first time that they ever saw the sea (although in Cleethorpes case The Humber estuary ) but lets not split hairs .

 

So we got an apple, Orange , bag of crisps , bottle of pop and ten bob to spend when we reached our destination .

 

By the time those old Bedford buses had reached the top of East Bank the feast had been consumed and by Gainsborough the last sick deposited in the coach isle swiftly mopped up by the committee mans Mrs who was in charge of all the sick and pee duties while the husband sat at the front in charge of all the tall stories told to who ever was in ear shot .

 

Another part of the trip involved chip and fish dinner at Beckitts chip restaurant in Cleethorpes and this was achieved by splitting the kids up into shifts of around 50 at a time ,

To facilitate this we were all issued with a cardboard badge that had our name and coach no on one side and on the other was coloured blue ,red , green etc, this meant that the blues had to be at Beckitts for 12 noon dinner , the reds for half past and so on until by 3 pm ish we all had had some snap.

 

All the clubs in the area did the same trip during the six weeks school holidays and what a wonderful example of socialism they were .

 

 

The Midhill had a large new concert room added in the sixties and many of the local lads helped on the building work (nudge nudge wink wink) the committee were wonderful entrepreneurs .

One amusing part to the extension was the concert room roof which if espied from the 101. 102 or 105 buses that traversed East Bank at that time would look very avey cravy in other words it was not very straight as one looked along the ridge tiles .

 

The lads who tiled it must have spent many an hour inside the old club tap room before going up top and this feature was a laughing topic for many years on the top deck of the passing buses .

 

The concert room when finished booked all the finest club acts that South Yorks could supply ,from groups to comedians and solo singers.

Very often these acts would not turn up and a committee man (Jack on the bins usually ) would announce this to a packed Saturday night audience resulting in loud boos and feet stamping by the Sam Smiths fuelled crowd.

 

Jack would hold up his hands shouting "settle down" "settle down" through the mike he would then announce that they had sent a runner up to Flo's who lived up East Bank and she would provide the evenings entertainment instead .

Flow was Flow Midwood who always filled in when required and she should have had a medal for putting up with a crowd that had all come from all or Sheffield to see the latest group and ended up with blue birds over the white cliffs of dover or summat like that.

 

So the Midhill was my first working mans club and part of my life for many years ,there are many tales that Icould tell about the place but that would take longer to write than War And Piece so I will leave just these few snippets for now .

 

Other clubs I have been a member of inc The Carlton Club on Gleadless Road, Walkley club, Park and Arbourthorne and Smitheywood .

Perhaps a few tales from those wonderful institutes will follow when the brain clicks in on another day.

Edited by samssong

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Always started in the Golden Ball on Townhead Street .Then on to West Street

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I use the Bear my self now and then and you are right it is a throw back to what pubs used to be , meeting places that you could afford to be in and without the smell of bleeeeedin sushi and chips up your nostrils.

 

---------- Post added 05-12-2016 at 19:50 ----------

 

So here goes ,Sheffields no one ever pub The Mucky Duck (Black Swan Snigg Hill).

Its been called all sorts over the years but to proper Sheffielders it will always be The Mucky Duck .

This is the pub that stands on the corner of Bank Street and Snigg Hill on the edge of Sheffields most neglected and iconic area.

The pub should be a listed national monument with a blue plaque on the wall as some of the greatest bands and solo artists in British musical history have performed on its stage.

 

The manager in the sixties was a big chap called Terry Steeples and Terry had an eye for an act that was on the way up.

 

The greatest star to grace the stage was Sheffields own Joe Cocker who I saw perform there on the 13th November 1968 just as his World wide hit" With a little help from my friends" made him into the International star he was.

 

But Joe had performed at the Duck on various occasions before that time in the early sixties , he was then known as Vince Arnold and the Avengers ,

 

 

This group had a regular

following and always seemed to be playing The Centre Spot Base Green , The Arbourthorne Hotel , or the Black Swan.

 

Apart from Joe I saw A young Elkie Brookes perform along with Robert Palmer and Elkie was (is) one of the best female rockers of all time.

 

Other acts on the Swan include The Clash , Tony Christie, The Sex Pistols and Sheffields best ever Rhythm and Blues man Frank White (Hows Frank goin on ?) .

 

The Friday afternoon builders session at the Swan always had a mucky comedian ( one who told jokes and stories that would not get them a booking in these P.C days)

Two comedians that come to mind are the incomparable Ron Delta ( he also played the Travellers on the Moor ) and the very risky Harry Bendon who's famous last act was his white eared elephant display.

That display entailed his trouser pocket linings hanging out along with his!!!!!.

It made the lasses scream and the lads among us who could compete with Harry some times doing so.

 

Over the years the Black Swan had different names inc The Boardwalk and The complete angler but to Sheffield Folk of a certain age and back ground it will always be known as The Mucky Duck.

 

 

A story about Terry Steeples I once heard - some agent called him to see if he would book his band - Terry had a vacant slot some weeks ahead but as they were 'cheap' he booked them. Between that phone call and the appearance the band released a single - which went to No 1 - the band was Argent - the single "Hold your head up"

 

From what I can remeber of the story the agent tried and tried to get them 'unbooked' but Terry was having none of it - a contract had been signed etc.

 

When Argent appeared the queue went up Angel Street and all teh way down Bank Street - bet the bar takings were good that night

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Ha ha ,no prizes for guessing who you cheer for. Is the pavilion still there ? lol:P

 

You`re wrong there Toronto!! I just couldn`t resist the temptation.

As for the pavilion, it was still there the last time time i went to the Lane.

 

United supporters have a better selection of pubs to go in than we have at Hillsborough.

Once did a pub crawl down Bramall Lane and back along London Road one Christmas Eve, with some of my mates who were "Blades"

We started off with a pint in the Sheaf House, then decided it would be better to stick to half`s.

I think the pub count came to Fourteen, we downed the last half in the Great Britain on John Street.

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You`re wrong there Toronto!! I just couldn`t resist the temptation.

As for the pavilion, it was still there the last time time i went to the Lane.

 

United supporters have a better selection of pubs to go in than we have at Hillsborough.

Once did a pub crawl down Bramall Lane and back along London Road one Christmas Eve, with some of my mates who were "Blades"

We started off with a pint in the Sheaf House, then decided it would be better to stick to half`s.

I think the pub count came to Fourteen, we downed the last half in the Great Britain on John Street.

 

Is the 'pavilion' being referred to the one at Cherry Street, last used by Yorkshire CCC in 1973 or the 'Pavilion' picture house on Attercliffe Common near Coleridge Road ?

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You`re wrong there Toronto!! I just couldn`t resist the temptation.

As for the pavilion, it was still there the last time time i went to the Lane.

 

United supporters have a better selection of pubs to go in than we have at Hillsborough.

Once did a pub crawl down Bramall Lane and back along London Road one Christmas Eve, with some of my mates who were "Blades"

We started off with a pint in the Sheaf House, then decided it would be better to stick to half`s.

I think the pub count came to Fourteen, we downed the last half in the Great Britain on John Street.

 

Yes if you were downtown and wanted to get around ,halves it was.You hardly ever saw pint pots on the downtown circuits. That trip you made was my in laws haunt in later years, the Barrel and Tramway were their split locals.

By the way Wednesday were not that bad in the timeframe I was talking about. One of my tripe fests followed the best live football game I have ever seen , I think, AUG 1968, 5-4 over Man Utd. down2-4 at half time. Amazing match and no TV cameras there.

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Another great Working mans club where I was member was The Smithywood at Woodseats.

 

Evan as late in the day as the early 90's you had to be in this club by 8.30 pm on a Saturday and Sunday night to be sure of a seat in the packed concert room .

 

The club always had a group on stage at the weekends with some of the best turns in the North of England often meaning a long que forming before the doors were opened.

 

The club secretary was a moustachioed bloke called Brian Davy and Brian ruled the club with an iron fist making sure that only the best turns were booked and that the beer was kept to a high standard .

Due to Brians vigilance the club was still drawing large crowds in a time when many of its competitors had lost their way, a sad decline that has continued until today when many of Sheffields finest have closed or are struggling to keep going.

 

The Smithywood had two main rooms ,the Concert and the Lounge ,these rooms were like chalk and cheese with the lounge having plush seating ,chandeliers, and Turner portraits on the wall.

 

On the other hand the concert room resembled a cowboy saloon with three legged tables surrounded by up to eight or ten gate backed chairs .

On a good turn night the amount of people that would surround the small tables was amazing as people who had turned up late squeezed in to loud comments from those who had got there early to secure a good view of the acts.

 

I personally had one of the best new years eve entertainment ever in the club arriving at 6pm to claim a good seat ,

By 7.30 there was not a seat to had any where in the club and the group came on to massive applause .

 

By 9.30 every man ,woman and some who were not sure was up and dancing , some on the rickety tables and others doing the conga through the lounge where even the lounge lizards joined in .

 

Loud chants of Wednesday and United supporters echoed through the club and when this banter got a bit out of hand around 10.30 pm a big fieght irrupted with both men and women settling a few old scores in the melee .

 

Our table had grown to around twenty friends and family by this time and we were fully enjoying the cowboy scene going on around us without us getting involved as most of the feights were harmless enough and would be described as handbags at ten paces really.

 

Any way Brian Davy jumped ont the stage and grabbed the mike from the groups singer (who had just carried on singing throughout the whole scrap ) and announced that if we all din't sit down and behave he was shutting the bar for the night and we could bugger off home.

Talk about a comic moment !!! it was as though a bomb had dropped , complete silence and then every Tom Dick and June stood up and clapped and cheered Brian .

The feighters all started to embrace each other and make up ,the tables were righted and the group lead us into old langs ine or whatever they call it .

 

Clubs were the back bone of a hard working Sheffield and just a few years later Brian died and the Smithywood shut its doors leaving only memories of a great venue run by a smashing bloke.

Edited by samssong

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