Bedlington Pubs

[keith lockey]

Hello everyone - sorry if I seem to be opening new topics willy nilly. Apologies, but I thirst for knowledge.

Four questions;

(1) Can anyone remember the Alsation dog that Vic and Vi had at the Terrier. It used to stand above the retail shop and bark at anybody coming in. (What was it's name - methinks not Tiddles!)

(2) How many names has the Millfield had? I remember drinking there when John Tudor had it. Then it changed it's name to Connexxions or something - but it was the Dun Cow, wasn't it?

(3) Why was the little bar in the Red Lion Called the Bunker? (Too obvious to be golf! Please!)

(4) Last but not least - this has probably been answered a trillion times - but why was the Barrington Arms called the Monkey? I have heard that many different stories.

I appreciate any help with the above. Cheers. keith.

[curly]

in answer to question 2 the milfield was at one time called the Dun Cow

[Canny lass]

3) could it have anything to do with Winston Churchill's bunker? Seating for 30, place to discuss politics and strategies? Just a thought.

[keith lockey]

in answer to question 2 the milfield was at one time called the Dun Cow

I thought so - though I don't think i was in it when it was called that.

[keith lockey]

3) could it have anything to do with Winston Churchill's bunker? Seating for 30, place to discuss politics and strategies? Just a thought.

I really don't know, Canny Lass! It was a legitimate question because I didn't have a clue. When I used to go there for basket meals on a Sunday night there were the two seperate rooms. One was the big lounge with the stone fireplace in the middle and the little room was always known as the Bunker. I assumed it was a golf term but then I began to wonder. Cheers.

[mickypotts]

1. Alsation dog I dont have a clue

2. the Dun Cow was there first, I was caught drinking in there when I was 14 with my brother and 2 freinds, shame was brought to my family over this, Or so my Dad said! We actually gave the copper our real names thinking he wouldnt check! between the 4 of us we were fined 30 Quid, took me ages to pay off my share with my paper rounds, methinks the bartender made a phone call after he served us. we deserved our punishment.

3. isnt a bunker where the coal is stored at the pit? that would be an appropriate term to use and it was the bunker before there was a golf course in Bedders.

4. the Barrington arms had a pet monkey that drank beer in the bar so the story goes and when he had too much he sometimes got nasty, as young kids we would take a pop bottle to the side door and tell the bar man to fill it with best bitter for my Dad, it always worked!!!

[keith lockey]

1. Alsation dog I dont have a clue

2. the Dun Cow was there first, I was caught drinking in there when I was 14 with my brother and 2 freinds, shame was brought to my family over this, Or so my Dad said! We actually gave the copper our real names thinking he wouldnt check! between the 4 of us we were fined 30 Quid, took me ages to pay off my share with my paper rounds, methinks the bartender made a phone call after he served us. we deserved our punishment.

3. isnt a bunker where the coal is stored at the pit? that would be an appropriate term to use and it was the bunker before there was a golf course in Bedders.

4. the Barrington arms had a pet monkey that drank beer in the bar so the story goes and when he had too much he sometimes got nasty, as young kids we would take a pop bottle to the side door and tell the bar man to fill it with best bitter for my Dad, it always worked!!!

Thanks Mickypotts. I was never in the Dun Cow when it was called that - I just started drinking there when it was the Millfield. As far as the Bunker room is concerned there could be any amount of feasible answers. But the MONKEY!!! I have heard that many versions it is beyond a joke. The latest one I heard was that is was a pit managers house and that he flew a flag above it when it was safe to go down the mines. The flag became known as the monkey for some obscure reason and hence the renaming of the pub. I remember going there for a pint one night in the seventies (?) and a chair came hurtling through - that was when there was an outside toilet with a corrugated roof. Talk about splashing your boots.

[mercuryg]

Keith; a friend of mine claims another story about the Monkey. He reckons - and he says he's researched this - the bell that signalled the end of shift at the nearby pit was known, for reasons yet to be fathomed, as 'The Monkey bell'; the Barrington was the place they would all head to for a pint, so it became known as 'The Monkey'. I'll ask him for his sources for you.

[keith lockey]

Keith; a friend of mine claims another story about the Monkey. He reckons - and he says he's researched this - the bell that signalled the end of shift at the nearby pit was known, for reasons yet to be fathomed, as 'The Monkey bell'; the Barrington was the place they would all head to for a pint, so it became known as 'The Monkey'. I'll ask him for his sources for you.

Cheers Mercuryg. To be honest the list goes on. I do remember there were posters of chimps on the wall when Jack Johnson had it - but I think that was because of the pub name not the reason for it. I'm sure I also heard one that said an early owner of the pub had a pet monkey!!!

[keith lockey]

Talking of pubs and such. There were two things I remember when I used to bend an elbow in the Bedlington Terrier. One was the lad who used to come round with the 'Football Pink', and the other was the 'crab man' who came round with his wicker basket of crab sticks and jars of mussels. I assume the pubs cottoned on that he was making a fair bit of money and started buying there own stuff in, because the 'crab man' seemes to have gone the same way as the dinosaurs and the dodo. But is the 'Pink' still going?

[Malcolm Robinson]

If I remember rightly all the crab men, back in the day, were started by a Sunderland company...........

Imagine their turnover.......the majority of pubs and clubs at the height of the trade.

Very soon copied then self supplied by the premises, but for a while...........

[keith lockey]

If I remember rightly all the crab men, back in the day, were started by a Sunderland company...........

Imagine their turnover.......the majority of pubs and clubs at the height of the trade.

Very soon copied then self supplied by the premises, but for a while...........

I didn't know they were a Sunderland 'firm'. I thought they were just local fishermen or something. I'm a veggie now but in those days I used to have a jar of mussels and I can still taste the grit in them. But the one thing I refused to try was willicks. There was a bunch of blokes in the Terrier who used to bring a big bag in and some pins and chew on them all night. It was revolting.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Know exactly what you mean Keith..............having said that I had had a go at their elder brother snails!

[Canny lass]

willicks! (sounds almost obscene doesn't it. It'll probably get censored).

I used to love them. There was a period in my childhood when I refused to eat the tail end. Then I discovered that it tasted better then the head and refused to eat the head. Today I couldn't eat a willick to save my life!! Same thing with mussels. I can remember going to pick willicks at the beach but I can't remember just where and I can just about remember the smell as they were cooking. Then, I thought it was a lovely smell. I remember my brother and I had a secret club - all the two of us! - The winkler's club. After a session of picking and eating willicks we each kept a shell . I've long since forgotten the rules but we had to be able to produce the shell if we were asked to by the other 'club members'. Then there was a system of forfeits if the shell wasn't produced. He always won because boys' trousers always had pockets and he carried his shell about with him. Girls' dresses didn't often have pockets so my shell was always somewhere in the house when I was challenged. Ah well! Beats burning picnic tables.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Canny lass

[Malcolm Robinson]

Like oysters who thought this was a good idea for food......................

[keith lockey]

Like oysters who thought this was a good idea for food......................

Thanks Malcolm, I've just brought up my breakfast. But talking of pub food I remember the basket meals at the Red Lion. Every Sunday night I would go there and have one. The soup in a basket didn't take off though. (PS I still haven't found a definite answer to why the back room of the Red Lion was called the Bunker!)

[Brett]

willicks! (sounds almost obscene doesn't it. It'll probably get censored).

I used to love them. There was a period in my childhood when I refused to eat the tail end. Then I discovered that it tasted better then the head and refused to eat the head. Today I couldn't eat a willick to save my life!! Same thing with mussels. I can remember going to pick willicks at the beach but I can't remember just where and I can just about remember the smell as they were cooking. Then, I thought it was a lovely smell. I remember my brother and I had a secret club - all the two of us! - The winkler's club. After a session of picking and eating willicks we each kept a shell . I've long since forgotten the rules but we had to be able to produce the shell if we were asked to by the other 'club members'. Then there was a system of forfeits if the shell wasn't produced. He always won because boys' trousers always had pockets and he carried his shell about with him. Girls' dresses didn't often have pockets so my shell was always somewhere in the house when I was challenged. Ah well! Beats burning picnic tables.

We've been up to Boulmer a few times picking them. Loads of little rock pools to get into and get your fingers nipped by crabs.

[keith lockey]

Can anyone remember when The Ridge Farm Pub opened?

[Keith Scantlebury]

Can anyone remember when The Ridge Farm Pub opened?

11 am

[keith lockey]

11 am

Yep! I walked into that one. Let me rephrase that. Can anyone remember which year the Ridge Farm Pub opened. (I remember drinking a pint of Worthington E there.)

[Malcolm Robinson]

Worthington E............strange tasting beer if I remember correctly...........

[Malcolm Robinson]

Only one beer and pub on Keith..............

[keith lockey]

If I had seen that Worthington ad beforehand I would never have touched the stuff! The annoying thing is, Malcolm, I can't stop singing it now. AARGH!!! (But the John Smith's is spot on)

Edited August 17, 2012 by keith lockey

[Keith Scantlebury]

You'd get thrown out and probably arrested if you asked for an E now. (unless you drank in the Jockey on the Chatsworth Estate ). I'll be in Wooler for the next week or so, probably still get it there !!

[Adam Hogg]

On the subject of Bedlington Pubs does anyone know what is going on with the Top Club? Because there has not been much happening with it since it was sold, i heard the now owners want to have it as a pub still, but that was a while ago i heard that.