Kevin's Watch

LOST PUBS OF PENRITH

A letter-writer in the Daily Telegraph seemed to be out-of-date when he asked: "I wonder if we shall remember 2008 as the year we lost our pubs?"

Alas, public houses the Mitre, the Salutation, the Old Crown, the Horse and Farrier, the Fish, the Coach and Horses, the Railway Tavern, the Museum, the Beacon, the Bluebell, the Lion and Lamb, the Duke's Head and others have been disappearing in steady succession over the years from the streets of Penrith, once among the booziest towns in the land.

The pubs of Penrith were once the mark of friendly social cohesion. But television struck the licensed trade a devastating blow and, in the case of Penrith, the loss of the auction cost landlords some of their best customers, especially in Castlegate and Corn Market, within walking distance of the mart.

The growth of sporting and ex-Servicemen's clubs added to the problems of many pubs, which had previously enjoyed the night-after-night loyalty of regulars.

Such was the strength of support that nobody could have imagined that a bustling hostelry like the Two Lions, in Great Dockray, would ever face closure. There was sometimes a hint of scandal about the place, and late-night violence led to court appearances by customers, some of them transport drivers who found Penrith a convivial town to stay overnight.

The Two Lions was the lorrymen's most popular pub and throbbed with activity and clinking glasses. Now, like other rival houses of a livelier past, the bars and smoke rooms lie sad and silent, behind locked doors and blocked windows.

Without many of its historic inns, Penrith is not the chummy, "lived in" town that once it was.

Only seven pizzas are on his menu - including a terrific "white" pizza with prosciutto, crunchy pistachios, gorgonzola-pear topped with pine nuts, and fresh rosemary. His commitment to purity extends to dessert, where the pistachio gelato and the blueberry sorbets are beyond reproach. But it's the pizza he really loves, and says customers used to thicker, Chicago-style pizza are finally getting the hang of true Neapolitan pies.

Skyweir wrote:

Only seven pizzas are on his menu - including a terrific "white" pizza with prosciutto, crunchy pistachios, gorgonzola-pear topped with pine nuts, and fresh rosemary. His commitment to purity extends to dessert, where the pistachio gelato and the blueberry sorbets are beyond reproach. But it's the pizza he really loves, and says customers used to thicker, Chicago-style pizza are finally getting the hang of true Neapolitan pies.

mmm .. hungry now

It probably sounds odd that I was raised in a pub .. or to you a 'bar' .. but its really not like a bar .. though alchohol is served ..

its a community place .. were locallers gathered .. yes to drink .. but also yarn and play darts .. beer drinking was to be had .. but not for the sport of getting drunk .. but as a wind-down and time to get together and play darts, dominos and cards .. a place to sit and chat .. much like watering holes of times past ..

Cagliostro wrote:I mourn the loss of drive-in movie theaters. Sure, the sound quality sucked (improved recently by broadcasting on a short wave FM frequency so the sound depended on your car sound system), there was always someone walking by your car and pulling you out of the movie. I could never concentrate. But damn I loved 'em. And it looks like the only one in Denver has gone bye bye as well. Very very sad. Now I don't know of any still around.

I saw at the Denver Art Museum recently a piece that had one of the old style speakers you mount on your window and an empty screen in the background. The weeds had taken over and there was actual sound coming from the speaker of the wind blowing across the unused drive-in. I nearly wept.

Damelon wrote:Ah, the memories.

When my grandparents retired in the early 70's from working in Chicago, they bought a bar in Door County, Wisconsin. Typical Wisconsin bar, maybe ten stools, three tables. Living area attached. Served tombstone pizza and sandwiches. A pool table and a foosball table. They had great Pabst beer on tap... tried that when I got a little older.

In the summer they got a lot of vacationers from Chicago, supplementing the locals who worked at the local shipyards and who came around all year. They ran it for five or six years before my grandfather died, but my grandmother ran it by herself for almost thirty more years.

My dad owns the property today. It'll never be a bar again because of issues as to where the building was built and a lack of parking, but it makes a great base for us when we want to get out of town for a few days.

Cagliostro wrote:I mourn the loss of drive-in movie theaters. Sure, the sound quality sucked (improved recently by broadcasting on a short wave FM frequency so the sound depended on your car sound system), there was always someone walking by your car and pulling you out of the movie. I could never concentrate. But damn I loved 'em. And it looks like the only one in Denver has gone bye bye as well. Very very sad. Now I don't know of any still around.

I saw at the Denver Art Museum recently a piece that had one of the old style speakers you mount on your window and an empty screen in the background. The weeds had taken over and there was actual sound coming from the speaker of the wind blowing across the unused drive-in. I nearly wept.

danlo wrote:I put the corner lolly as it's the closest to the malt and donut shop that my Dad took my sister and I to on Sundays in my old home town. Jimmy's Corner Store where my geekdom originated. I'd spend hours immersed in The Hulk, Daredevil and Thor while my Dad read the paper.

JazFusion wrote:I miss safe streets. I grew up in the big city. We moved about every year as a kid, but the only house I lived in when I was a kid was in a horrible neighborhood. There were lots of drug dealings, cars being stolen and drive-by shootings. We still played in the streets and wandered around, however unsafe it was.

But even today I'd be hesitant to let my kids wander in the streets by themselves. It's a real shame you have to think so defensively nowadays. I wish I could tell my son, "You can go outside and play, just be back by 6 for dinner!".

Menolly wrote:Ah...nostalgia.

This is not my family's video, but we lived five miles from there and my sister and I spent many a summer's day there. I would have been 12 at the time of the video.

...and the Magic Kingdom, the first part of the Walt Disney World resort four hours away in Orlando, opened the same year this video was taken...

Pirates World ~ Dania Beach, FL

...Johnny and Edgar Winter recorded a live album together there as well...