Can you imagine a coal mining village still going strong in England in 2068? Well apparently the NCB closed down the Arley Colliery in 1968 despite there still being a hundred years of coal available to mine beneath the surface.
Bearing in mind the production started in 1901 and the first coal was extracted in 1902 then there was plenty of history with coal mining in this town that once employed 1,734 men to mine.
This might come as a surprise but it was Lord Robens nominally of the Labour Party (and NCB), in 1968, who deemed this pit no longer financially viable despite the cited fact that one hundred years of coal remained beneath. This tells us two things. The House of Lords should have been abolished years ago and that all parties, whatever their political persuasion, generally put profit above all else.
However, six hundred new homes had been built, known as New Arley, whilst Old Arley remained pretty much as it was with the combined total of residents across both Old and New is around 2,900. The railway line splits the village in two with Nuneaton arguably the biggest nearby town and this history lesson wouldn’t have been necessary had a pub selling Bass been flexible!
I stopped off at the Cottage Inn in Fillongley at about 6.05 only to be greeted with the shock news that they stopped serving at 6!!! The Bass pump was looking particularly appealing but, so be it, I headed towards the M42 with a stop off in Old Arley.
To be precise I popped into 220 – Wagon Load Of Lime CV7 8FU which is one of the best names for a boozer I’ve heard in years and was immediately met with a missing dog alert.
In a community that has survived a pit closure – albeit fifty years ago – I always find they are still tight knit and a good boozer is of paramount importance.
The landlady here is Kim Mason and the pub is smart and welcoming with an absolutely banging jukebox at around 6.15 on a Sunday evening.
Whether or not the strains of loud rock music frightened off the puppy who knows, but it meant that whislt she was serving me a very good pint of Hobgoblin Gold (Wychwood) she was concerned for her missing pooch.
Nonetheless, the drama was short lived as before I’d even got halfway through my pint she was reunited with the lively four legged fiend and normal service was resumed.
It’s a pub that clearly respects the local community with a huge mounted display on the wall from the local British Legion and this is clearly a focal point for the village.
A jukebox, dart board and pool table along with beer garden, sky sports, live music and breakfast from 9am in the morning ensure this place is a round the clock operation and it is clearly doing more than surviving.
There was a reasonably sized crowd in on Sunday and when I sat down with my pint at the end of a table at the front of a boozer I was greeted by a bloke claiming I had fallen out with the girls sitting at the other and he described us a ‘married couple on our blowers, sitting apart and not speaking.!’
Once it was clarified we were strangers then he seemed at ease and it was a nice relaxed atmosphere with the gaffer insisting I take a picture of her dog when I was leaving (possibly in case he went missing again!)
(there he is)
With a bowling green at the back of the boozer as well then this is a well-kept pub, on a bus route, with a good base of local support (judging by all the pool and darts trophies) that will ensure it survives.
The description of Old Arley is possibly semi-rural but, judging by some of the pubs that Martin, Si and Duncan find on their GBG travels, then this is almost a sprawling metropolis.
A good, solid village boozer that has adapted to the modern world…a bit like Old Arley.
“and that all parties, whatever their political persuasion, generally put profit above all else.”
That’s true in practically any country these days. 😉
“only to be greeted with the shock news that they stopped serving at 6!!!”
Ugh. 😒
“which is one of the best names for a boozer I’ve heard in years”
Agreed. 👍
“with an absolutely banging jukebox at around 6.15 on a Sunday evening.”
And you’re a firm believer in music in a pub. 😎
“with a huge mounted display on the wall from the local British Legion”
Good for them. 👍
“(there he is) ”
No offense, but I doubt anyone could recognise him from that photo. 😜
“A good, solid village boozer that has adapted to the modern world…a bit like Old Arley.”
Nice closing bit. ☺️
Cheers
PS – “tight knit an a good boozer”
Missing a d on the third word.
“whislt she as serving”
Missing a w on the third word.
“a very good point of Hobgoblin Gold”
While it may have been on point, I believe it was a pint. 😋
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cheers Russ…yes I think I should have enlarged the dog photo but wanted some perspective as to how small it actually was!!!
LikeLike
“but wanted some perspective as to how small it actually was!!!”
LOL, good point. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Profit is a lot better than the alternative, of course 😉
And, while people might feel a bit nostalgic about mining communities, working underground in a coal mine is one of the shittiest jobs known to man.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good point raised…Mining was a tough job but a job is better than no job as Longbridge is finding out in Brum.
Any party that has McDonell at the helm will not be getting my vote.
LikeLike
You chose the wrong pub for the ‘Arley as ex-mining village experience’…
https://thewickingman.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/since-its-you-thats-asking-ill-have-another-gin-dear/ .Now that did shift some beer back in the day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A good post and a great boozer by the sound of it! I’ll add it to my bucket list!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve got to hand it to you, Ian. If there’s a Beer Guide pub in a place you’ll go to the one that isn’t and find it just as good. I really like those pubs between Nuneaton and Lichfield, Proper Pubs.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I liked this one. A proper pub with a good atmosphere and decent beer…what more do you need!
LikeLiked by 1 person
An entry in the Beer Guide which I can mark with a pink marker pen, Ian.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is actually a very good point Martin 😀
LikeLike
I love a pub with a bowling green. I thought you only got that Cockgoblin in bottles in supermarkets. I didn’t realise there are actually places where they make folk drink it on draught.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was a very tidy pint – right up your street Rich as brewed by Marston’s in Burton! A bowling green always adds something I feel.
LikeLiked by 1 person