Old Pubs in the Meadows


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There was a TV film made in the 1970's (I think) that was about a Lads Bus trip to Blackpool for a bunch of Regulars  from a Pub in Nottingham. The real pub used was the 'Plumtre Arms' in the Meadows but in the film, it was called the 'Mustard Pot'. However, I can't remember what the Film was actually called.

 

Does anyone know the name of the Film?

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Rob, it was one of the BBC's 'Wednesday Play' series and was first shown on 2 April 1969.  I remember their bus trip was aboard Barton's coach no. 863, and whenever we bus spotters used to see it at Huntingdon Street we called it the 'Wednesday Play bus'.

 

Details of the episode are on this site:

 

http://www.startrader.co.uk/wed_play/wed_ep_08.htm

 

I'll copy the relevant bit:

 

Synopsis : Joe, a Nottingham publican, prides himself as organiser of an annual bus tour to Blackpool. The group consists of a rowdy bunch of miners, hell-bent on a good time. Gradually Joe loses his hold as the defiant group disperses. He returns a sadder and wiser man. On Blackpool beach Pancho and Joe send a message back to Nottingham by pigeon.

Publicity : Sling Your Hook - The Wednesday Play, about a party of miners on a weekend at Blackpool, is a seaside postcard come to life, says producer Irene Shubik: It is a common enough fantasy for anyone on holiday: the dream of chucking it in and staying away for good. The holiday-makers in Sling Your Hook are a charabanc party from the Nottingham mines bound for a weekend in Blackpool. Roy Minton writes of them from first hand, for he has worked in the pits. But this is no play of earnest social messages; rather, at times, it takes on the flavour of a seaside postcard by Donald McGill in which the fat women and yearning little men are blown up to life-size proportions. The play was filmed entirely on location in the pubs, hotels and pleasure spots of Blackpool, as well as in the Nottingham mines. The cast is large and offers a number of memorable comic performances.

Leading it are Michael Bates as Joe, a Nottingham publican, who heads the group, and North Country comedian Joe Gladwin as Oliver, his friend, who is a compulsive eater. A team of actors including Patrick O'Connell, Johnny Wade, Kenneth Cranham, Barry Jackson and Norman Jones are the miners who feel inclined to sling their hooks. The women they encounter are Jo Rowbottom, Geraldine Moffatt and Mavis Villiers. The production represents a debut into drama for Michael Tuchner. This documentary director was responsible for many Whicker's World productions - among them "Paris Fashions" and "Grand Prix" - and for the Muggeridge programme The American Way Of Sex.


Cast : Michael Bates (Joe), Joe Gladwin (Oliver), Patrick O'Connell (Mick), Jo Rowbottom (Helen), Kenneth Cranham (Roland), Geraldine Moffatt (Jo), Barry Jackson (Cossack), Mavis Villiers (Mrs Flowers), Johnny Wade (Lol), Norman Jones (Pancho), Warren Clarke (Alec), George Layton (Pete), Neville Smith (Spider), Colin Spaull (Hooray), Andrew McCulloch (Sid), Derek Keller (Arthur), Harvey Edwards (Harry), Marc Gebhard (Tojo), Antony Woolf (Didi), Paul Dawkins (Craske), Jean Challis (Betty), Rosemary King (Spider's Girl), Cyril Varley (The Pub Landlord), Narcy Calamatta (The Italian Waiter), Gerry Ram (The Indian Waiter), Tommy Ward (The Bar Waiter) and Anthony Benson (The Salesman).

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy-five minutes and was transmitted from 9:05pm to 10:20pm.

This episode enjoyed a repeat broadcast on August 19th, 1970. This episode is one of only seven episodes from the eighth season of The Wednesday Play which still exists.

 

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That's a tough one Rob..I recall it now..very good.

BBC online shop may have it?..YouTube- might be on there?

Michael Bates was the barman,also Rob the writer.. a Nottm bloke wrote Scum..the borstal drama..if my memory serves me right.Roy Minton.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...

I spoke with my granddad Ray Nichols about this post the other day and he said he can remember all of them as he and his dad Arthur used to drink in them. if anybody remembers him I would be grateful if you could let me know and then I can pass the message on to him. 

 

A pub that I remember fondly is The Cremorne, I know it might not be the oldest pub but I remember being about 4 or 5 and going with my granddad when he used to play cards and dominoes here as well as other memories. I used to live behind it over 10 years ago too and saw it when it sadly got knocked down and turned into accommodation.   

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The Cremorne was a favourite watering hole before Forest home games in the mid seventies. They used to do a lovely pie and chips, which was a good stomach liner for a few pints prior to the match. I last went in sometime in the mid 80's after a match.

Always a good friendly atmosphere, and I too was saddened by its demise.

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The Cremorne brings back happy memories of the early 50`s when the family would catch the trackless from Commercial Square on St Anns Well Road all the way to the terminus at the Embankment then have a drink outside before having a walk by the Trent then getting the trackless back home. In those days that was a real treat for me eclipsed only by the rare trip on a summer weekend of catching a "red bus" to Burton Joyce with a bottle of pop at The Nelson (?) and then half an hour on the nearby rec with swings, rocking horse and witches hat.

Being an afficianado of cream cakes from Sandersons on Alfred St, I always thought it good that a pub should be called The Cream Horn!

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Many years ago the tenants of the Cremorne moved out into the sticks to run our village pub. It was a culture shock for them. No fighting, no dancing on the tables, no swearing. They even tore up their "no drug dealing signs". She was a bit tarty and he wore an open shirt with a big gold medallion. People were a bit sniffy about them to start with but they soon adapted and we got to quite like them eventually!

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My local was the Sir Richard Arkwright on Arkwright Street, Landlord and Lady back then was Chris and Annie??? Then they retired and Barry Price took it on with his wife, that was from 1965 until I got married, then when I wasn't living at work, The Rifleman just around the corner for me.

As an apprentice at Clifton Colliery, I'd drop off at the Cremorne  of a hot summers night on the way to work for a quick pint.

 

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17 minutes ago, Commo said:

Phil, re #35, it's a good job that N/S never used your village pub for the meets if none of those activities were tolerated!

Commo, how very dare you imply that NS meetups are like that?   I would dance on a table, though, but  I might have trouble climbing up and down. Lol

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#34 Commo.  That brought back a few memories.  My folks liked to walk to Burton Joyce.  Yes it was the Lord Nelson or they'd go to the Wheatsheaf just up the road a bit.  I was left out on the rec' with instructions not to talk to strangers.  No stranger ever talked to me. :Shock:. Then we would often walk back by the Ferry Boat inn at Stoke Bardolph, where I was instructed not to talk to strangers or fall in the river.  Happy days? :rolleyes:. They'd probably get locked up for that now.

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  • 6 years later...

That’s a great piece of film for anything connected with Nottingham. I'm not sure if I saw the play when it was first transmitted

 

Can anyone identify the pub at 0.55. It’s Trumans, and there’s a street nameplate but it’s hidden by the onscreen logo. (Although it's a Barton's coach, it may not be Nottingham).

 

It includes two actors who, a few years later, would appear in Last of the Summer Wine - Joe Gladwin and Michael Bates.

 

And at 4.20 a bit of local interest for me with shots of Queen’s Drive, showing Clifton colliery and Wilford power station .

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Wherever it were, they definitely weren't Nottingham accents. More like a poor imitation of Yorkshire.

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It’s very hard for an outsider to pick up a proper Nottingham accent. I worked in Basford for 30 years so I know it well. One of my co-directors went to a public school and I often had to translate for him on the factory floor!

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