Forst Pint

[Keith Scantlebury]

My old man was a steward so forst pint when I was about 12 sitting at the end of the night with the bar staff.  

 

1s 5d ordinary and 1s 8d for best.  

 

Ordinary in hogsheads Best in firkins if I remember.  Whacking in the taps was something else!

Surely beer was sold in FLAGGONS when you were a kid Malcolm !!

[Keith Scantlebury]

I used to manage to get into the Bank top when about 16 or 17 Tommy Richardson had it then. Anne was the barmaid and she was there for donkeys years. John Exton had the Railway and took no crap from anyone. Tommy Tait was in the Clayton. I can remember Margaret & Bob Nesbit in the Percy (his brother was of Millican & Nesbit fame )I did get in there before they ran the place but cant remember the previous names. When Spike had the Percy (High House as many called it )rumour had it that if you won a domino card you had the choice of the money or 10 minutes upstairs with his Mrs (or barmaid) !!

[Malcolm Robinson]

Surely beer was sold in FLAGGONS when you were a kid Malcolm !!

 

Yeah but you should have seen the bar staff!

 

 

[Malcolm Robinson]

Then again we heard about the shenanigans in Bedlington with bar staff but the pictures we got were not that enticing...........

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

I used to manage to get into the Bank top when about 16 or 17 Tommy Richardson had it then. Anne was the barmaid and she was there for donkeys years. John Exton had the Railway and took no crap from anyone. Tommy Tait was in the Clayton. I can remember Margaret & Bob Nesbit in the Percy (his brother was of Millican & Nesbit fame )I did get in there before they ran the place but cant remember the previous names. When Spike had the Percy (High House as many called it )rumour had it that if you won a domino card you had the choice of the money or 10 minutes upstairs with his Mrs (or barmaid) !!

Seem to remember it was with one of the barmaids if one won a domino card. Think that was the same owners that allowed your Forst Pint, of the day, any time after midnight or when you had just come off shift from the 'A' pit.

[Paula]

13 at the Blue Bell with a bottle of LCL which was bought for me off the landlord himself Geordie Watt after beating a regular at pool! Why I got LCL I do not know but it was like rocket fuel and I don't think I finished it!

[Maggie/915]

I am informed some individuals drank 'Cherry-bee and cider'.

I think that must have been lethal !

[Symptoms]

Rum and Black was another favourite.  A pal of mine from Ashington, a lad called Cookie (another nickname preventing successful searching-out today) used to drink pints of the stuff.  Once, when camping in Keswick with a load of pals during the Summer hols (1969) he drank so much of the stuff that he passed-out, I found him the next morning lying on ground in the tent STUCK to the groundsheet by dried purple vomit.  Ambulance called, whipped off to Keswick hospital, belly pumped, stuff injected by the quacks, me watching.  He made a good recovery and was out drinking with us that night in the Wool Pack pub ... oh, and that was the night of the moon landing.  Happy days.

[keith lockey]

Many moons ago I tried a few bottles of Diamond White. It doesn't look much but It was definitely a case of "One small step for man, one giant stagger for yours truly." Potent stuff!! I wonder if you can still get it?

 

Edited February 19, 2014 by keith lockey

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Many moons ago I tried a few bottles of Diamond White. It doesn't look much but It was definitely a case of "One small step for man, one giant stagger for yours truly." Potent stuff!! I wonder if you can still get it?

 

Diamond White.jpg

Never been a cider drinker so was never aware of the stuff. 

Yes you can still get it Keith - Amazon deal :-

DIAMOND WHITE Cider 24x 500ml Cans

by Diamond White 5.0 out of 5 stars Dispatched from and sold by Pinglebox. 3 new from £29.49 

 

Surprised they don't have a price for used cans!

 

But a research throws up a PDF report at  http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/assets/files/Publications/2011/White%20Cider%20Report%20-%20April%202011.pdf

and could explain your developed stagger, extract from report:-

In 2009 the Chief Executive of St Mungo‟s homelessness charity made a presentation to

Alcohol Concern‟s annual conference. Subsequent discussions between the two

organisations centred around two main questions: whether white ciders had a different

impact on the health of homeless people than other high-strength drinks and if this was the

case how to draw attention to the problem. Funding was secured from Alcohol Research UK

(formerly the Alcohol Education and Research Council) for this brief study, which is largely

based on questionnaires and interviews. Another homelessness charity Thames Reach,

which has relentlessly campaigned on the issue of super-strength drinks since 2005, later

contributed greatly to the research.

The affordability and strength of white cider also make it very attractive to under-age drinkers

with considerable immediate risks, as they are able to get very drunk so cheaply. However,

it is particularly difficult to assess how different drinks impact on the health of under-age

drinkers, given also that it is illegal to sell alcohol to them. The impact of consumption of

white cider on the health of under-age drinkers is beyond the scope of this study, but it is

interesting to note that many alcohol treatment professional interviewed stated that most of

the customers for white cider seem to be either dependent drinkers or children.

[Symptoms]

As a student in London, in the late 60s early 70s, my favourite weekend tipple was a pint of Broon (available in the Student Union bar) with an added crushed tab of Mandrax stirred-in.  The Uni's quack used to prescribe 'mandies' freely if you told him you were having trouble getting to sleep,  bottles and bottles of the 'pinkies' were given out by him.  Ah, happy days ... very, very, very, very happy days.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Symptoms

[Maggie/915]

There was Merrydown Cider sold in the South which later had to be classified as a wine.

Mandy s are immortalised by Ian Dury!