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A friend and I were trying to recall the names and locations of the long defunct Berni Inns, in and around Nottingham.

We came up with The Cricketers on Barker Gate, The Chateau on Wilford Lane, The Grosvenor on Mansfield Road and The Hutt at Ravenshead.

Reckon there are a few more to add…

What’s this place that still calls itself a ‘Berni Inn', on Mornington Crescent at Strelley?

Cheers

Robt P.

BTW: 500th post…I hereby claim my case of Moet & Chandon from the Administrator. !faint!

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Had a date with a Waitress from the Grovesnor name of Linda,,don't know if it was same one Fly,tall skinny lass with short blonde hair.....be about 1968........went in 2 or 3 Pubs in town,,and i notic

erm, didn't the white hart in daybrook/arnold bit on mansfield road used to be a berni inn? can't remember if it was or not. i know we used to see em around, but not seen any for a few years.

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I say get them gud ode Berni Inns brought back!

We could get the Three Cavaliers advert back on the box and Berni Flint could do the showpiece opening at the Seven Mile House - if he's not gone dune like his mentor. Worthington 'E' and Skol in the bar - SODA SYPHONS with comp soda!! "D'yer mind me fingers, sir?" VAT 69 promo on the top shelf; 'been-round-the-block-some' head waitress who fidgets and gazes into the middle distance if you tell her that red wine comes from a vineyard over the sea and a tall tanned bloke in a safari suit with a big nose and a bigger desire to fiddle with its internal ducting hogging half of of the bar and broadcasting the minutes of his tenth (first)Portugese holiday to the waifygirly understudy of previous old munter who resents her getting the pompous thick fairly rich twat's recital and not her. REAL onion rings and half a half-grilled tom to WOW you to the spec, because yer mum never thought of THAT one, and a steak wi lines across it, which set yer dad fathoming about for the rest of the communal voration. After all - it was HIS bloody treat for once, and in the back of yer mind, it was back to yer Mam's steamed slop tomorrer!

"Bond appertight?"

Bloody right, yer dodgy ode munter (an pull yer tights up, fer God's sek)

Shed

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Wasn't one of the first Bernie Inn's in Nottingham, on St James's Street, between Long Row and Maid Marian Way? Also one on Milton St, backing on to the Vic Centre?

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Berni Inn is one of a range of British restaurants.

Aldo Berni founded the first one in 1955 in The Rummer public house in Bristol. It introduced the post-war British public to the joys of prawn cocktail, steak chips and peas, and Black Forest Gateau.

The chain quickly expanded, first throughout Bristol and then the rest of the country. Unlike other restaurants, they didn’t do their own butchery but bought in steaks already chopped. It was taken over by GrandMet in 1970 and later sold to Whitbread.

British tastes have moved on, and Aldo Berni died in 1997 at the age of 88. The chain is now defunct and many former Berni Inns have since been converted to other brands owned by Whitbread such as Beefeater or Brewers Fayre.

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I used to be a regular mid week eater at the Miltons Head when it re-opened as a Berni in the Viccy Centre. Opened in 1974 but didn't last long.

Can anyone remeber the original name of the nightclub that also used to be in the Viccy centre? - spread over 3 floors in the basement, now part of the car park.

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  • 1 year later...

Yes, the white hart was a Berni - £4.95 fro a 4oz sterak and chips and mushrooms and peas and a puding too - i think they may even have thrown in a coffee. In those days there were only three bottles of wine! Lutomer, Blue nun and mateus! Wonderful days really!

Cheers,

charlie

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The White Hart was my local in the seventies, I practically lived in there. It's stil my nearest pub but I don't set foot in there these days. At that time it was reputedly the biggest taker of M & B ales in the Midlands - it was arguably busier than any city centre pub.

I was never in your posh dining out league, Charlie. Three pints of watery mild at 17.5p each and a night of heaven chasing the talent in there was my main mission!

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Can anyone remeber the original name of the nightclub that also used to be in the Viccy centre? - spread over 3 floors in the basement, now part of the car park.

Do you mean the one situated at the clock entrance, variously known as Intercom/Tiffany's/Zhivagos I think?

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Do you mean the one situated at the clock entrance, variously known as Intercom/Tiffany's/Zhivagos I think?

God yes - the Intercom!! And I'd completely forgotten the clock tower!

Now that brings back even more memories!

Thank you very much!

Charlie

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Do you mean the one situated at the clock entrance, variously known as Intercom/Tiffany's/Zhivagos I think?

Well done Stu - it only took just over a year to get a reply.

Not a lot of people can remember it as the Intercon. Worked in there when it was being built. Saw quite a few groups perform in there.

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Well done Stu - it only took just over a year to get a reply.

Not a lot of people can remember it as the Intercon. Worked in there when it was being built. Saw quite a few groups perform in there.

Crikey yes, Frank

Being a bit of a new lad on here it sometimes takes a while to comprehend how long some of the threads have been around for. I guess the important things is to get there in the end eh!

I seem to remember three acts being on there in the space of a week or so when Intercon first opened. My memory might be failing though. Certainly Think Lizzy appeared (cos I ewas there - underage!). It was the original three piece with Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey and Eric Bell on guitar. It was round the time of their rendition of 'Whiskey in the Jar'. Eric Bell left shortly afterwards and Lizzy became famed for their twin-guitar sound with Brian Robertson, Scott Gorham, etc. Another of those three acts was Gary Glitter I'm pretty sure.

I was a bit young then. My main days there were the Tifanny's time. In truth I was never into night clubs much and would always prefer a bit of a nosebag at somewhere like the Kong Nam instead!

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  • 7 months later...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Berni Inn is one of a range of British restaurants.

Aldo Berni founded the first one in 1955 in The Rummer public house in Bristol. It introduced the post-war British public to the joys of prawn cocktail, steak chips and peas, and Black Forest Gateau.

The chain quickly expanded, first throughout Bristol and then the rest of the country. Unlike other restaurants, they didn’t do their own butchery but bought in steaks already chopped. It was taken over by GrandMet in 1970 and later sold to Whitbread.

British tastes have moved on, and Aldo Berni died in 1997 at the age of 88. The chain is now defunct and many former Berni Inns have since been converted to other brands owned by Whitbread such as Beefeater or Brewers Fayre.

Bernis at the time were far better than Beefeaters and brewers fayre [which in my opinion are flamin' crap]

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My local in those days was the Grosvenor and we enjoyed eating there (as well as drinking), fortunately, it's survived without becoming a part of one of those chains.

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A friend and I were trying to recall the names and locations of the long defunct Berni Inns, in and around Nottingham.

We came up with The Cricketers on Barker Gate, The Chateau on Wilford Lane, The Grosvenor on Mansfield Road and The Hutt at Ravenshead.

Reckon there are a few more to add…

What’s this place that still calls itself a ‘Berni Inn', on Mornington Crescent at Strelley?

Cheers

Robt P.

BTW: 500th post…I hereby claim my case of Moet & Chandon from the Administrator. !faint!

Hi Rob, I remember The Chateau.I went to a Christmas Do there in 1975.My Nottingham days were 1975-1986.Wasn't The Flying Horse one ? There was one on the right approachng the entrance to the Broadmarsh Centre too - cannot remember it's name.

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Hi Rob, I remember The Chateau.I went to a Christmas Do there in 1975.My Nottingham days were 1975-1986.Wasn't The Flying Horse one ? There was one on the right approachng the entrance to the Broadmarsh Centre too - cannot remember it's name.

The one down by the Broad Marsh Centre was the 'Old Sawyers Arms' ? or something like it . Maybe it was just the 'Sawyers Arms' or even 'Old Sawyers'

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It was Sawyers Arms...There was also the Britannia just round the back of the Palais.I used to work for Mason Brothers the Derby Rd butchers who supplied them pre cut steaks.Good quality beef steaks.But they started buying cheap Manchester cow meat from knackered old cows and the quality went down.In the later years they got very tight and started charging extra for the side salad.I remember going in the Grosvenor and being offered 'A variety of cheeses to enjoy after your main course' When the waitress came I said 'I'll have a piece of that and that please' She told me a 'choice of cheeses' only allowed me to pick one.

Paul.

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My local in those days was the Grosvenor and we enjoyed eating there (as well as drinking), fortunately, it's survived without becoming a part of one of those chains.

The Grosvenor became a very popular meeting place for a short period. On Friday nights there would easily be a couple of hundred of us meet there. We must have all been barred from both The Fly AND the Sal at the time otherwise so many of us wouldn't have travelled out of town so regularly. It must have been summer 1973 because I remember Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" being released and a friend of mine (Roger C) dressed to match the album cover, lightning make up and all! I wouldn't have minded but I had to travel with him on 2 buses to get there - Bartons 4A from The Nurseryman and then the NCT from Slab Square!

Happy days!

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In fact it used to get so busy the car park was full with people just chatting and drinking - not sure about the year but I would agree with 73 although it could have been 72. Then they introduced a dress code and the place became as quiet as a morgue for while.

The Grosvenor was where we always started before venturing into town.

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I spent years in the Grosvenor.Helluva lot of students from Clarendon went in.Met and married two females out of there over the years (Not for long)

One nutter called Ted painted the horse statue outside with zebra stripes.That made the papers...they made him paint it white again to avoid prosecution.

My favourite memory was wheeling my two year old son in the lounge Saturday lunch...it had just been done up for 30 grand,that's when they introduced the dress code.The polish barmaid was not amused even though it was empty...kids not welcome in those days.She played hell when he scattered crisps all over the new carpet.

Half an hour later there was a huge thunderstorm, the surrounding hills ran like rivers swamping the drains and flooding the car park and pub several feet deep.Had to take refuge upstairs to avoid the flood...so much for crisps on the carpet,it was knee deep in sewage. :laugh:

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I think the competition from the Savoy across the road might have effected the Grosvenor trade about

that time. I remember dining on Duck in orange sauce in the Savoy.

In the 80's I think me and the beefsteak went in?

I have memories of a large plate of horses douvres?(sp)

Ian may remember this, or it could have been two diffrent people?

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