Roughest pub you've ever been in??

[easytoslip]

The Doric is now called the Cock and Seaman.

I believe so, mad name, absolutely no reason to venture there though when I'm home , I stick to the rough sort I'm used to.

In the Solly some time.ago , ok like, but going out for a smoke was a bit intimidating because of the kids on bikes and the uniform tracksuits and all that bollocks

[sir roger]

Surprised they got away with that name change, the owners changed the name of the pub opposite Georgesons on Breck Road to the Cockwell Inn but the police / council got them to change it. That was a pretty grim place thinking about it.

[stringvest]

Thought it was there , fucked if I can remember the one opposite the station it will be on my mind all day now , there's a paper shop roughly where it was.;

 

was it the Scarlet Bar?

[halewood pete]

Penny Farthing been boarded up for a few weeks now. Not much different to the previous state it was in apart from no lurkers outside and you can't hear anyone murdering Sex on Fire at 3.30 in the afternoon.

When I started work in a shipping office in concourse house in the mid seventies,used to go here upstairs with my mate most days for a pint and our dinner,usually pie chips and peas.two sisters used to work upstairs,cant remember their names,but it was a really nice clean well run pub then,nothing like the shithole it became.

Then most days on the way home a few of us from the office would walk to the pier head for the bus home via the star and garter,and the why not and crocodile in Harrington St.then sometimes tom halls tavern on the strand(soon to re open)

Happy days.

[stringvest]

When I started work in a shipping office in concourse house in the mid seventies,used to go here upstairs with my mate most days for a pint and our dinner,usually pie chips and peas.two sisters used to work upstairs,cant remember their names,but it was a really nice clean well run pub then,nothing like the shithole it became.

Then most days on the way home a few of us from the office would walk to the pier head for the bus home via the star and garter,and the why not and crocodile in Harrington St.then sometimes tom halls tavern on the strand(soon to re open)

Happy days.

 

you probably spilt my pint at some point. I'm getting on to the claims helpline right away.

[easytoslip]

was it the Scarlet Bar?

I think halewood pete just mentioned it , the star and garter ?

[stringvest]

I think halewood pete just mentioned it , the star and garter ?

 

 

yeah, you're both right.  I once saw Mike Read (the old Radio 1) DJ trying to play guitar and sing in there and he was booed off  - he left the pub in tears.

[RJ Fan club]

The Doric is now called the Cock and Seaman.

Stupid name, I looks like it's gone down the nick that place. It was never the worst around there.

 

The Sandown was a shitehole before it burned down

[Harry Squatter]

When it opened it looked OK as two people who owned a few other pubs had taken it over. Haven't seen it for about a year though.

 

Which one was the Sandown? . Been in the Caradoc and the Gateway. I used to live by the Manor House and that was a shithole populated with tracky wearing scruffs

[RJ Fan club]

When it opened it looked OK as two people who owned a few other pubs had taken it over. Haven't seen it for about a year though.

 

Which one was the Sandown? . Been in the Caradoc and the Gateway. I used to live by the Manor House and that was a shithole populated with tracky wearing scruffs

Detached brick building on Sandy Road, on the right hand side of walking from seaforth station towards Waterloo, located a few 100m just before you go up the hill towards Chaffers (Brook Vale).

 

I think it's gone now

[Harry Squatter]

Yeah I remember it. Watched a few fights in there as it was one of the few pus in the area that had sky and pay per view. They used to put a buffet on for the late night Las Vegas fights.

 

Was knocked down about 1995 or possibly earlier.

[milky]

Went to a pub to escape a wedding fair and watch the unmentionable in the Waterside in Derry. Was the only place nearby, so thought 'fuck it'. Thought there seemed to be a lot of cops about, but didn't really pay much heed considering the area.

 

Went in and ordered hoping to keep my head down and watch the game. But no, bar maid wanted a full rundown on me before handing me my pint across a Union Jack laden bar. Luckily, my English borne surname afforded me a bit of leeway, despite being raised catholic (which I obviously never divulged). Sat down under the tv on my own, trying to keep a low profile.

 

Until the reason for the police presence became clear, and I was 'persuaded' to stand at the door and watch hundreds of Orange men march past, cheering their every anti-catholic beat. It was pretty funny, in fairness, they were actually all sound folk in the bar. It was interesting to see that side of things, something I'll never get to see. I don't go in for any of that sectarian bullshit either side, so found it pretty fascinating. 

 

Rough as fuck though, genuinely feared for my safety a few times. Some of the locals were proper hardcore loyalists.

[halewood pete]

When I started work in a shipping office in concourse house in the mid seventies,used to go here upstairs with my mate most days for a pint and our dinner,usually pie chips and peas.two sisters used to work upstairs,cant remember their names,but it was a really nice clean well run pub then,nothing like the shithole it became.

Then most days on the way home a few of us from the office would walk to the pier head for the bus home via the star and garter,and the why not and crocodile in Harrington St.then sometimes tom halls tavern on the strand(soon to re open)

Happy days.

just been thinking of another bonus from this time in my life.on Fridays you could go to tiffanys,a big night club underneath india buildings and they would accept luncheon vouchers (google it you young ones)for beer! we got a 15p voucher per day so we would save them for friday.If memory serves,you could get two pints easily for less than fifty pence in those days

[RJ Fan club]

Yeah I remember it. Watched a few fights in there as it was one of the few pus in the area that had sky and pay per view. They used to put a buffet on for the late night Las Vegas fights.

 

Was knocked down about 1995 or possibly earlier.

Dunno thought it was knocked down much later, was thinking 2000/1/2/3 ish, but dunno now. I probably last went in there around mid 90's

[Bjornebye]

They had some series on years ago about the roughest pubs in Britain. A pub in Portsmouth called the mother shipton was on it. Soft as fuck pub. Seriously, you could walk in there and piss on the pool table and no cunt would look up from their pint.

[halewood pete]

yeah, you're both right.  I once saw Mike Read (the old Radio 1) DJ trying to play guitar and sing in there and he was booed off  - he left the pub in tears.

Billy Kinsley used to play in there with his new band,Liverpool Express,he was formerly with the mersey beats.

[General Dryness]

They had some series on years ago about the roughest pubs in Britain. A pub in Portsmouth called the mother shipton was on it. Soft as fuck pub. Seriously, you could walk in there and piss on the pool table and no cunt would look up from their pint.

My old local was on it.

 

It was at that moment I realised that the researchers hadn't really done their homework, therefore rendering the entire series fucking jarg as fuck.

[Bjornebye]

My old local was on it.

It was at that moment I realised that the researchers hadn't really done their homework, therefore rendering the entire series fucking jarg as fuck.

Absolutely. The only one deserving of a place in that programme was the one in Sheffield under that block of flats. Fuck that for a pint.

[General Dryness]

I don't remember the series all that well, its been a while. Just googled though, that was The Parkway Tavern in Sheffield you're talking about.

[Bjornebye]

The Dominion on the Dock Road at the bottom of Bankhall was extremely dodgy. It was a glorified knocking shop, lots of desperate cunts of the boats - the strippers were so rough people used to turn their back.

 

I did once see a stripper in there remove an old guy's tie and proceed to stuff the whole thing where the sun did not shine, then removed it and presented it back to him in predictable fashion. One of the MDHC's finest then removed his shirt and asked her to put it on a 40 degree rinse. Very amusing.

Love reading this thread back but this always cracks me up.

[Bjornebye]

I don't remember the series all that well, its been a while. Just googled though, that was The Parkway Tavern in Sheffield you're talking about.

Yeah, you could just tell that it was a den of blood

[Ne Moe Imya]

I don't know if this was really the "roughest" pub so much as the strangest, but a few years ago working in America I had a very strange experience in a pub environment I would normally never visit.

 

So I did my university studies in the USA, and after completing them the only job I was offered was selling manufactured housing.  This is a long story in and of itself which is for another day, but at one point it took me into a bar/pub-type place to sell on my boss' orders.

 

In point of fact, it was a livestock arena that had been rented out as a Mexican bar.  Which is not a racist thing, that's literally what everyone called it, even the migrant workers who were there.  They set up a stage for a band in the middle of the floor, had a huge bar along the side of it and people were dancing in between.  To one side there was an honest-to-God wrestling ring where periodically liquored up Latino men would challenge each other to a WWE-style brawl, bouncing off the ropes to body slam each other.

 

My boss heard about this place and, with nothing else to go on other than a vague sense that "we could sell trailers to the Mexicans" he arranged to park a singlewide behind the stage.  I would then go on stage between sets (as the lone Spanish-speaking salesman this fell to me, despite my misgivings that it was a waste of time) and invite everyone to come on back and take a look at the merchandise.  We would then give tours of the home to drunk Latino men and their heavyset blonde girlfriends and answer questions such as "how do I get a loan from the bank if I'm in the country illegally?"

 

It was one of the most bizarre places I've ever been on earth.  Hard-working men who spend all day building houses or cutting grass would show up wearing cowboy boots and Western-style shirts and bolo ties to drink bad American beer and dance to a loud Mariachi-pop band.  The women were fascinating - few of the migrant workers bring their wives, instead they send the money back to Latin America in remittances, so the women were a definite subculture all to themselves.  All of them blonde, overweight, and with way too much time spent at the tanning salon, they called themselves "gueras" (white girls" in slang Spanish) and seemed content to be passed between the mustachioed dancers.  All while on the other side of the room a guy gave his best Rick Flair "Woooo!" while suplexing another shirtless man in a ring, and a hapless salesman (me) tried hopelessly to sell a 14-foot wide house.

[ticklemeclemo]

A few years back I went to a pub in Fitzroy Crossing. A little town in outback Western Australia

Turned up for a pint about 2 in the afternoon, and it was already getting a little rowdy

Couldnt help but notice the chicken wire around the bar

Had a few quick pints, and then remembered my adventurous drinking days were behind me and got out

Later that night I was having dinner with the manager of the local hospital, and he asks if I saw the pub

I asked what the deal was with the chicken wire

Apparently after 8 the bar becomes members only. This apparently meant " you know.... white"

All the local indigenous population are asked to move on, if they are a bit reluctant the firehose gets used.. hence the chicken wire

There are also signs asking drivers to be careful of people sleeping on the road.. Interesting place

[Nunavut Patrick]

I don't know if this was really the "roughest" pub so much as the strangest, but a few years ago working in America I had a very strange experience in a pub environment I would normally never visit.

 

So I did my university studies in the USA, and after completing them the only job I was offered was selling manufactured housing.  This is a long story in and of itself which is for another day, but at one point it took me into a bar/pub-type place to sell on my boss' orders.

 

In point of fact, it was a livestock arena that had been rented out as a Mexican bar.  Which is not a racist thing, that's literally what everyone called it, even the migrant workers who were there.  They set up a stage for a band in the middle of the floor, had a huge bar along the side of it and people were dancing in between.  To one side there was an honest-to-God wrestling ring where periodically liquored up Latino men would challenge each other to a WWE-style brawl, bouncing off the ropes to body slam each other.

 

My boss heard about this place and, with nothing else to go on other than a vague sense that "we could sell trailers to the Mexicans" he arranged to park a singlewide behind the stage.  I would then go on stage between sets (as the lone Spanish-speaking salesman this fell to me, despite my misgivings that it was a waste of time) and invite everyone to come on back and take a look at the merchandise.  We would then give tours of the home to drunk Latino men and their heavyset blonde girlfriends and answer questions such as "how do I get a loan from the bank if I'm in the country illegally?"

 

It was one of the most bizarre places I've ever been on earth.  Hard-working men who spend all day building houses or cutting grass would show up wearing cowboy boots and Western-style shirts and bolo ties to drink bad American beer and dance to a loud Mariachi-pop band.  The women were fascinating - few of the migrant workers bring their wives, instead they send the money back to Latin America in remittances, so the women were a definite subculture all to themselves.  All of them blonde, overweight, and with way too much time spent at the tanning salon, they called themselves "gueras" (white girls" in slang Spanish) and seemed content to be passed between the mustachioed dancers.  All while on the other side of the room a guy gave his best Rick Flair "Woooo!" while suplexing another shirtless man in a ring, and a hapless salesman (me) tried hopelessly to sell a 14-foot wide house.

This needs to be made into a Coen Brothers movie.

 

Fucking brilliant.

[Mook]

Fucking state of this place.