For whom the time bell tolls...
There was a fab discussion about Wycombe boozers of days gone by a while back. Some ace photos on the BFP today. As a Wycombe born and bred Gasroom lurker, like most others, most of this just makes me sad. What we've lost...
http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/galleries/lost_pubs_of_high_wycombe/
0
Comments
It's a wonder that all the residents of High Wycombe were not filling the hospitals with renal failure with that amount of pubs! A great trip down memory lane that thanks. Brought back a fair few memories a a misspent youth from my college days.
Aye, had my first sup of ale in the games room at the back of the Red Cow
, playing bar billiards with my other under age mates.
Those are horrifying statistics. The disappearance of 80 pubs from a town the size of Wycombe is one of the starkest reminders possible of the way that "progress" has undermined the fabric of society. I keep thinking of the times I'd finish the morning shift (Met Office) and nip off on my trusty Vespa GS to the pub for a pint of stout and mild and a pork pie. Don't recall many stabbings in those days either.
Seeing a pic of The Gate brought back some great memories of having a few pints before plodding up the path to Loakes Park,wonderful carefree days of my youth.
When many of these pubs existed their customers lived close by but moved further out when their houses were pulled down and new estates were built. The same thing happened with several chapels. TV hadn't come along, hardly anyone owned a car so if you lived near a pub that was where you went as your main social activity.
Things change. I was born in West Wycombe Road. The building, then a nursing home, is now a hotel
That's it in a nutshell @wingnut.
For those with slightly longer memories, here's how it was back in 1875 .....
Sad times.
Makes you realise how shit Wycombe has become...feel sorry for anyone still living there !!! ;-)
Surely 62 was the Iron Duke, the Morning Star (Pontin's / Heroes & Zeros) was on the Bowerdean / Totteridge crossroads.
The original Morning Star was on the corner of Duke St.
The pub i'm intrigued about is the Keep with in Compass at 42 Saffron Platt, The public House also known as "The Compasses".
From Wycombe Wanderers Football club 1957 official Handbook.
"The beginning was very modest when, in the early 1880's, a number of young men,endowed by the spirit of adventure,one evening under a street gas lamp near "The Compasses," Saffron Platt, to talk about the prospect of forming a football club"
So maybe the old Wanderers favourire song should be adopted from 'I was born under the gasworks end' to 'We were born under a street gas lamp'.
Going off on a tangent here....I've heard the Hereford version of 'I was born...' what are the full lyrics?
There used to be a pub on the West Wycombe Road that was also an old railway station. I used to drink in their quite a bit many years ago but can't remember its name or see it on the list. It was opposite Rosemary Close and has since been redeveloped as houses. Any ideas anyone?
Going off on a tangent here....I've heard the Hereford version of 'I was born...' what are the full lyrics?
There used to be a pub on the West Wycombe Road that was also an old railway station. I used to drink in their quite a bit many years ago but can't remember its name or see it on the list. It was opposite Rosemary Close and has since been redeveloped as houses. Any ideas anyone?
The Friend at Hand
Ah yes. It comes back to me now. They were always up for a lock in.
Thanks.
@WestLondonWanderer so you judge a town on the number of pubs it has? That's a bit sad isn't it. - glad you left for that beautiful metropolis known as "west London" - please stay there - some of us actually quite like Wycombe even without all the pubs as there are other things to do with ones life. Tw*t.
@wingnut Sadly I drank in many of these in the late 70's and 80's into the 90's well after the town lost its residential heart. But even the estate pubs built later like the Downley Donkey, Golden Fleece and The Jolly Bodger have been lost in recent times. Bit like the old Grounds I love, we have lost to many fine pubs.
Doesn't everyone? What else is there? Though quality of pubs as a percentage of the number is a key factor
Just to add to the debate.
http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/25/its-official-having-a-local-pub-makes-you-happier-5642775/
@wingnut hit the nail on the head. Sadly pub culture has been replaced by 'pi55ed culture' so the idea of popping up the road to have a pint (yes, one) and a chat/game of dominoes is very outdated.
Even the few decent village pubs left (and I'm not talking nouveau gastro pubs) are regarded as a rather quaint source of fascination.
There are a few outposts doing their utmost to appeal to a dwindling audience, namely the Belle Vue.
Sadly it's a bit out of my way so can't 'pop' down there as regularly as I'd like.
The Half Moon in Wycombe isn't bad either. Nice enough crowd with the occasional oddbod to keep things interesting.
The Friend at Hand was just on the road side of West Wycombe station. It is replaced by the row of houses standing exactly where the pub stood.
As pointed out drinking at home is fuelled by supermarkets, who saw off off-licences (eg The Grapes in High Street) and wet fish shops also into closure (eg Smiths in Bull Lane) and Macfisheries in Easton Street, Similar fates overtook Corn and Seed Merchants (Stevens and Jones and Rivetts), ironmongers (Georges, Coltmans, and Gardners) These and many other old established and useful businesses of many types have closed because people's shopping habits have changed. Pubs are just part of the mix and Wycombe is no different in that regard than almost every town in the country.
We need to take the licences off the big supermarkets. It would bring back off-licences, reduce drink-related illnesses, encourage good old-fashioned social drinking. Is a bit bolting the stable door after the horse has fled though