Rough As Fuck Pubs

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

The perennial " Pubs, innit?" thread has been revived, which has lead to a previous pubs thread being referred to, which contains one or two posts about absolute dive bars/ incredibly rough places ( a charming sounding place benamed " The Old Bill" has been mentioned, along with one or two other glorious flat roof places, usually in Scotland).
I always like reading about these places, so why not another thread devoted to this topic? Time for more tales about your very own favourite rough and ready boozer, or about the time that you and a companion walked into a friendly looking establishment that you'd never been into before, only to be faced with a reception not unlike that scene with the two young American hitch- hiking lads in " An American Werewolf In London". Anyway, I think this thread would be a nice little supplement to the " Pubs, Then" thread.

[steve98]

An oldie but a goody. Dunno where it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P5YCZF1d_Q

[idunnosomename]

the comment "it's probably about 11 AM" made me laugh

[dmillburn]

I'm not sure if we caught it on a particularly bad day but Sara Moon's in Birmingham remains the roughest pub I've ever been in. It was located next to the Hummingbird/Academy so we were advised to have a pint in there whilst we waited for a tout to sort us out tickets. The resulting next 30 minutes was like one of those scenes in Westerns where people are sat in a saloon whilst everyone else is beating the shit out of each other, everywhere you looked there was either a scrap or a blatant drug deal going down and it was totally relentless. It's now a Peaky Blinders themed bar.

There was a shit "Britain's Toughest Pubs" series on Sky about 15 years ago, which seemed way off the mark. From memory the top 10 included 3 pubs I'd been to loads - the White Horse in Wycombe, The Tavern on the Hill in Walthamstow and The Wagon and Horses in St Albans, none of which were remotely tough or rough back then. There was however some squaddie pub in Aldershot on it that did have the locals playing a game that involved stapling beer mats to each others foreheads so suspect that one was better qualified.

[TrenterPercenter]

My old local - this is after it was closed down but it didn't look much better when open.

Rough. as. fuck.

[jobotic]

The New Penny Farthing in Liverpool looked quite simply awful to me (mater). I wasn't brave enough to go in.

And why would I when there's loads of ace pubs?

[canadagoose]

My old local - this is after it was closed down but it didn't look much better when open.

Rough. as. fuck.

"Food Available" - what was it like?

[TrenterPercenter]

I'm not sure if we caught it on a particularly bad day but Sara Moon's in Birmingham remains the roughest pub I've ever been in. It was located next to the Hummingbird/Academy so we were advised to have a pint in there whilst we waited for a tout to sort us out tickets. The resulting next 30 minutes was like one of those scenes in Westerns where people are sat in a saloon whilst everyone else is beating the shit out of each other, everywhere you looked there was either a scrap or a blatant drug deal going down and it was totally relentless. It's now a Peaky Blinders themed bar.

We've got load of rough pubs.

Worst around them parts was notoriously The Mercat though which literally looked like an actual prison unit.

[TrenterPercenter]

"Food Available" - what was it like?

Let's just say it wasn't quite haute cuisine.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Leeds ones:

The Regent - dire as fuck, never ending karaoke

The General Elliot - quite charming in its ridiculously outdated format. Essentially an old drop in, stand/lean alehouse that never went out of business. High % of toothless customers and a lady behind the bar that looks like she is probably responsible for a good percentage of that tooth loss.

The Duncan - almost provocatively hostile knackered brown exterior and ghoulishly unreconstructed interior. Toilet roll is on the outside of the toilet door. Possibly a goner since Covid.

Three Legs - more never ending karaoke, dartboard on the ceiling, absolute shit tip

The New Penny - the de facto lesbian pub. It seems harsh to criticise a safe space but when it isn't actually a safe space, maybe you can. Been to better gay bars.

The Merry Monk - now a housing development but this was an old estate pub and you had to watch yourself at times in there, attracted some psychos

The Wetherspoons aren't that bad in Leeds really in comparison to others I've been. The one by Grosvenor Casino used to be an absolute shit tip though.

The Pack Horse on Brigate - now a Craft Union pub and absolutely frighteningly shit and packed with cunts

Rough pubs in Leeds I actually like on some level:

The Angel - Still has a Dickensian charm and carousel of oddballs.

The Templar - Can be cosy and good ales. Can be shouty and lots of chat about who stabbed, raped who. Dog racing on tv though, come on.

[dmillburn]

We've got load of rough pubs.

That's true - Birmingham is also the only place I've been warned "I think you should drink that in the beer garden, lads" by the landlord as well, and it wasn't because it was a nice sunny day or it offered a glorious view of Balsall Heath.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Some Sheffield ones:

The Banker's Draft - Sheffield
Spoons. One of the dingiest too. Low lighting, carpet concealing god knows what, drool on the windows, drug deals, crusties in low lighting suppying their 99p pints all day. The background ambience of plates clattering, repeating fruit machine patterns and gruff hollering. Genuinely squalid, like reclining in fust.

The Swim Inn - Sheffield
Another Spoons. See above, pretty much all applies.

The London Road pubs in Sheffield: Barrys, The Barrel, The Crown & The Cremorne can be really edgy at times. There are some unhinged characters around.

Norfolk Arms, Penny Black & Hen & Chickens near the interchange are pretty rough too.

Anyone beer in THE BIG GUN? Looks really hostile from the outside but heard mixed things overall.

[steveh]

Not really rough but you felt an undercurrent of something...

Back at the end of the eighties I was working just near London Bridge station and occasionally we'd go to a place for lunch called Julie's Piano Bar. This was if I remember right on the corner of Wild's Rents and Long Lane at a time when the area was pretty run down - empty spaces that had been bombed in WW2 and never rebuilt, semi-derelict industrial buildings and not many people on the streets.

The bar had grills over the windows and from the outside looked like you wouldn't venture in if you hadn't been invited but had a cheery landlord who always dressed in a three piece suit with a silk handkerchief in his chest pocket and the woman who took the food orders was always friendly. There were these regulars though who just gave off the vibe of being senior in less legit activities and who got respect from the other drinkers. Nobody from work ever went there in the evening. Did a great chilli con carne.

Before the licensing hours were liberalised, Soho used to have a bunch of drinking places that would open up at 11pm when the pubs shut. Very basic spaces with no decoration, often selling only cans of lager at a truly massive markup. Think there were also some clip joints that would switch to this overnight when the out-of-town punters to fleece had dried up. Never heard of any raids - assume they were run by the Maltese mafia like everything else there at that time.

[Ferris]

We've got load of rough pubs.

I went to an Irish pub in digbeth about 12 years ago with a mate and it was like a scene from a film. I seem to remember the jukebox stopping and everyone turning their dilapidated heads to stare at us. We turned around and left without a word. Proper shit tip.

Bonus: my phone tried to correct "digbeth" to "dog egg".

[Psybro]

Some Sheffield ones:

The Banker's Draft - Sheffield
Spoons. One of the dingiest too. Low lighting, carpet concealing god knows what, drool on the windows, drug deals, crusties in low lighting suppying their 99p pints all day. The background ambience of plates clattering, repeating fruit machine patterns and gruff hollering. Genuinely squalid, like reclining in fust.

The Swim Inn - Sheffield
Another Spoons. See above, pretty much all applies.

The London Road pubs in Sheffield: Barrys, The Barrel, The Crown & The Cremorne can be really edgy at times. There are some unhinged characters around.

Norfolk Arms, Penny Black & Hen & Chickens near the interchange are pretty rough too.

Anyone beer in THE BIG GUN? Looks really hostile from the outside but heard mixed things overall.

The Swim Inn is long gone now. Went in a few times as a student. Didn't seem worse than the standard Spoons. Did go in the Penny Black once to watch football, didn't stay for the second half. 

The York in Broomhill had over a million quid spent turning it into a gastro, but in its former incarnation as a Scream Pub it was as grimy studenty as it's possible to get, can't believe I actually ate in there. One round the corner (The Seven Seas?) which was meant to be even worse is now a Harry Potter themed cafe.

[Beagle 2]

For all I know it was fine but I was always quite scared of Murrayfield Sports Bar near where I lived in Edinburgh. Lovely smell of Spice around that place when I walked past on the way to work every morning.

[TrenterPercenter]

I went to an Irish pub in digbeth about 12 years ago with a mate and it was like a scene from a film. I seem to remember the jukebox stopping and everyone turning their dilapidated heads to stare at us. We turned around and left without a word. Proper shit tip.

Bonus: my phone tried to correct "digbeth" to "dog egg".

Might have been the Dubliner or Hennessy's (though I think they cleaned that up now); to be honest all the pubs in Digbeth are decent with nice folk in them generally; Digbeth btw is on the up now and is becoming quite gentrified now.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Oh yes, I used to pass the Seven Seas daily. One of those post-war pubs that look effortlessly, instantly unappealing from the outside.

The Punchbowl in Crookes had a reputation for being the tackiest, and for in your face cunt clientele when I lived near there.

[Pijlstaart]

One time mamaji took me and the grandparents to a rough as fuck pub, she had a voucher, half price on weekdays, and it was decorated rough, no soft play area, gambling paraphernalia on the walls, rusted farm implements hanging from the ceiling which would have come in handy if it got "tasty" in there, which I'm sure it did. We ordered our rough as fuck pub grub, a la carte like in a guy ritchie film and once it arrived a man in an uncollared shirt who probably fancied himself some sort of "tasty boy" sauntered over. "Oi, give us a chip mate" he said gesturing to my sweet potato wedges, I replied "Carefoo' Squire" as I'd been taught to, but he mustn't have heard me and I had to repeat myself twice in louder more quavering tones. I was shaking so hard my bib fell off and grandmother referred to me as a "mucky pup", think that turned out to be you grandmother when the cancer came back, but that's a story for another time. Wouldn't go again, suspect dark woods in a pub are a bad sign, maybe pubs with light wood or better yet plastic furniture are the way to go.

[Ferris]

Might have been the Dubliner or Hennessy's (though I think they cleaned that up now); to be honest all the pubs in Digbeth are decent with nice folk in them generally; Digbeth btw is on the up now and is becoming quite gentrified now.

So my mum insists on telling me any time I crack a joke about Birmingham being a toilet.

The Swim Inn is long gone now. Went in a few times as a student. Didn't seem worse than the standard Spoons. Did go in the Penny Black once to watch football, didn't stay for the second half. 

The York in Broomhill had over a million quid spent turning it into a gastro, but in its former incarnation as a Scream Pub it was as grimy studenty as it's possible to get, can't believe I actually ate in there. One round the corner (The Seven Seas?) which was meant to be even worse is now a Harry Potter themed cafe.

The Swim Inn was shit but basically ok, it had an upstairs with an outside bit if memory serves. Can't knock that.

We had the bar stools from the York after one of their many, many retrofits. They chucked out furniture every 6 months it felt like.

[TrenterPercenter]

So my mum insists on telling me any time I crack a joke about Birmingham being a toilet.

Ah but we are friendly welcoming toilet (with funny accents).

She's not wrong though massive regen going on in Bham and has been for some time parts of it now actually look like a normal city.

[Ferris]

Ah but we are friendly welcoming toilet (with funny accents).

She's not wrong though massive regen going on in Bham and has been for some time parts of it now actually look like a normal city.

I grew up in Birmingham (and a lot of my family still live there) so I'm allowed to have a pop - I've only been back once or twice in the last 10 years and yeah it looks alright. It doesn't deserve its reputation but it's too funny to drop it unfortunately.

Sorry Birmingham.

[steve98]

One time mamaji took me and the grandparents to a rough as fuck pub, she had a voucher, half price on weekdays, and it was decorated rough, no soft play area, gambling paraphernalia on the walls, rusted farm implements hanging from the ceiling which would have come in handy if it got "tasty" in there, which I'm sure it did. We ordered our rough as fuck pub grub, a la carte like in a guy ritchie film and once it arrived a man in an uncollared shirt who probably fancied himself some sort of "tasty boy" sauntered over. "Oi, give us a chip mate" he said gesturing to my sweet potato wedges, I replied "Carefoo' Squire" as I'd been taught to, but he mustn't have heard me and I had to repeat myself twice in louder more quavering tones. I was shaking so hard my bib fell off and grandmother referred to me as a "mucky pup", think that turned out to be you grandmother when the cancer came back, but that's a story for another time. Wouldn't go again, suspect dark woods in a pub are a bad sign, maybe pubs with light wood or better yet plastic furniture are the way to go.

Sounds grisly, but where  is it? How can we avoid it if we don't know where it is?

[Brundle-Fly]

This nasty dive used to be on Camden Road in the mid-nineties. Obviously, they didn't ask permission to use the name, like the shitty-themed eateries for ex-pats you see in Magaluf or Benidorm: ie: - Del Boy & Rodney's Irish Bar.  I had a mate who lived opposite and he said around closing time at the weekend you'd walk to the 24-hour mart a 100 yards down the road rather than the one that was merely two doors down from Teds.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

If it's got a flat roof I'm not going in.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Went in the Dog & Duck on Mutley Plain in Plymouth once and the floor was absolutely covered with wet blood. Turned around and went out again.

I can't find the news story but once at the Railway Hotel in Saltash, some lad invited another lad outside for a fight, and then ran him over with his van.

[Gurke and Hare]

Lenton in Nottingham is a big student area, and when I was there in the 80s the one pub in Lenton that you Didn't Go In if you were a student was the 17/21st Lancers. It's a Tesco Express now.

Just having a streetview wander round the area and loads of the pubs there have closed now, I guess students don't drink any more. The Happy Return was a primarily locals' pub that also attracted students, and that seems to be the Nottingham Royal Naval Association Club now. And The Grove is just standing empty, apparently for the last 15 years.

[beanheadmcginty]

Lenton in Nottingham is a big student area, and when I was there in the 80s the one pub in Lenton that you Didn't Go In if you were a student was the 17/21st Lancers. It's a Tesco Express now.

Just having a streetview wander round the area and loads of the pubs there have closed now, I guess students don't drink any more. The Happy Return was a primarily locals' pub that also attracted students, and that seems to be the Nottingham Royal Naval Association Club now. And The Grove is just standing empty, apparently for the last 15 years.

Aw, I used to love the Grove. Sunday quiz nights with Cringle were a great time.

[Brundle-Fly]

Squaddie pubs near army barracks? Sssswerrrrrrrrrrrve!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

There was a story about an infamous Irish pub near Piccadilly Circus in the 80s that was full of anyone after a cheap pint, and a time when a group were torturing a rat in one of the booths.