Weekends

In the 80s and early 90s the highlight of the week was a much eagerly awaited Friday night trip into Nottingham or town as it was known.Traditionally Friday was “the lads” and Saturday was “couples”.Straight home from an early Friday finish from work,bit of lunch into the shower,splash of Aramis and down to the local to meet up with “the lads”.The Hayloft at Giltbrook was the place to meet about 6 o’clock ish,a couple of swift pints of John Smith’s were the usual order of the day then onto the bus into town.The Hayloft was a perfect place for catching the bus as the bus stop was directly outside the front door,we would get the nod that the bus was on it’s way and the drinks would be knocked back and off we trotted.

Getting into Nottingham 45 minutes later usually ready for the first toilet stop the first pub was always The Stage Door.This was a pub owned by the ex Nottingham Forest player Larry Lloyd and being an avid Forest fan would always say hello to him as he was in his favourite position propping up the bar in the corner.I mostly plumped for a bottle of Becks in the first stop off due to the 2 earlier pints and it was still before 7 o’clock,next stop The Bell Inn( https://greeneking-pubs.co.uk) a great characterful establishment with 3 or 4 separate rooms and one of the oldest pubs in town.The Bell was a very popular (and still is) pub and seemed to be packed to the rafters on every visit.In the 80s and early 90s it was a Hardy Hansen run pub and although there was a few more choices of beers than the similar pubs back in Eastwood the best bitter was a decent choice,not the most interesting tasting beer you could have but was ok,also when on a long session I mostly opted for the lower ABV beers and the Kimberley best was only 3.2 ish% ( can’t remember the exact ABV) so was an ideal choice.Next stop The Flying Horse,this was also a great pub with many rooms but the main room housed the Friday night disco,another bottle was in order here probably Becks but it would certainly be a bottle of something.The flying horse is now a smart shopping arcade and the entrance still has the old signage which makes me smile with happy memories everytime I walk past.The Dog and Bear was the next stop,a great old building that now houses the Body shop,now the dog and bear was a notoriously tough pub and the only reason we went in was for the “entertainment “there was guaranteed to be a fist fight at some point and the security were brilliant at sorting these fights out,we sometimes didn’t even bother with a drink as the “entertainment ” was good enough.Next stop The Fountain straight across the road from the dog,again this pub is now a shop (White Stuff or Cath Kidston) I’m sure someone will correct me on that one,back to the pints now for a bit,my memory is a bit fuzzy so not sure which brewery owned the Fountain.Back central towards slab square and into Yates Wine Lodge a beautiful old building with an upstairs bar and a balcony,the upstairs bar on a Friday night always had “the violinist “a bizarre piece of entertainment,a man on a small podium in the middle of the room surrounded by customers paying no attention whatsoever playing a violin that could barely be heard.Being a wine lodge I mostly gave a glass of wine a try oh dear this was the point when the room decided to spin around and was time to go home.

The group now had the decision of Night Club and taxi or bus home straight away,my decision was usually down to how much money I had left in my pocket.There was many Night Clubs in Nottingham back then so a 10 minute drunken discussion on which one was going to be visited was probably a funny sight for passers by.The decision was made and 9 times out of 10 I took the bus home.The tradition of the lads Friday night lasted well into the 90s but family commitments (couldn’t afford it anymore) from most of the lads stopped us in our tracks.