37 replies to this topic

[Alan]

Who remembers when pubs first started doing meals as a matter of routine in evenings? My early memories are of chicken in a basket in The Stork at Billinge in 1967. We thought it was the bee's knees to get food is a pub. A quarter of a chicken in a natty little (probably totally germ-laden) wickerwork basket with a few leaves of Iceberg lettuce followed by Black Forest Gateau. La Dolce Vita in Billinge!

[Griffin]

The Lingholme used to do a reasonable beef in beer pie in the early seventies. The great favourite, though, which sums up the decade for me, was scampi. What exactly is a scampo? Maybe Nuala can tell us. More recently, we often availed of steak and ale pie in the Royal Oak in Fishguard (famous as the place where the peace treaty was signed after the last invasion of Britain by a rather incompetent French force in 1797). We called it snake and whale pie. Happy days.

[brunty]

that was the first place i had food alan the stork just as you say chicken in basket about the same time as you say,
also another pub was the plough and harrow at the bottom end of pimbo,alltthey did was chicken in basket.

[gypsygeoff]

The Glassmakers used to do a brill lunch.Mashed spuds,sausages and gravy.That would have been in the early 70's.

[eddiedunc]

Is that what you call nouvelle cuisine

[rosishere]

I remember the Clarendon in College Street doing a roaring trade in lunches in the early 70's.

I also remember Thursday cabaret nights at the Saints club where, allegedly, you could get chicken in the basket, scampi in the hanky and also crumpet on the carpark.

[gypsygeoff]

Yeah ros i remember that too,it gave me sore knees

[Madge]

Me and my fella used to go to the Lingholme in the 70s for prawn cocktail, chicken in a basket and black forest gateux, washed down with a bottle of Mateus Rose

Sounds disgusting now!

[gypsygeoff]

Ah Mateus Rose',always reminds me of the Mersey View in Frodsham.Never was the same since they changed the bottle shape

[brunty]

you wouldnt go in there now madge its a refuge for dropouts how a once great pub has gone to that level can
only be put down to bad management.

[Alan]

Madge, on Sep 28 2007, 08:00 PM, said:

Me and my fella used to go to the Lingholme in the 70s for prawn cocktail, chicken in a basket and black forest gateux, washed down with a bottle of Mateus Rose

Sounds disgusting now!

Madge, that was mine and my dad's local until I left St Helens in 1967 and in my Dad's case until after Bill Sutton seemed to hand over to his son Tony some time in the seventies. I believe it's a queers' place now. I prefer to remember it as it was before the Suttons took over when Bert Barton had it - a very conservative watering hole with good beer, good conversation and a zero-tolerance policy towards bad behaviour. They even had a spittoon on the best side for one of the customers to pour a drop of ale out for his dog

[brunty]

alan i never went in the lingholme a great deal but two chaps i knew were harry hayes who was a coop manager
a rather thin chap with a red face the other was a chap called arthur simcox they lived at bottom of green,that would be early 60s.

[Griffin]

Brunty, you're a time machine! I haven't thought about Harry since I was a small boy in the late fifties. I used to be sent to the Co-op and give Harry our divi number - 2183 - and he would tear off a little receipt from the pad. I recall his red face very well.

[Sparka]

rosishere, on Sep 26 2007, 10:00 PM, said:

I remember the Clarendon in College Street doing a roaring trade in lunches in the early 70's.

I also remember Thursday cabaret nights at the Saints club where, allegedly, you could get chicken in the basket, scampi in the hanky and also crumpet on the carpark.

I can remember working there as a maintenance contractor and seeing a sign above the chip fryer reading "Little Pickers" Big Knickers"

[kes]

Nice Italian restraunt in Billinge now Alan, got good reports about the food. Get's full Sat and Sun.