Udates to Billingshurst League Venues

[tommo III]

Interesting evening spent at the Railway tonight which you could say was "a la recherche de temps perdue".   Here's what I was able to find out:

• B-b table now in the lower bar, replacing the Pool table and has been bought by Nathan.
• It still needs setting up, including positioning of the overhead lights.
  
• My dear friend Bill Phillips passed on three years ago.
  
• No table any more in Ye Olde Six Bells.
  

[tommo III]

No table any more in the Fox (Bucks Green) which I visited on the way home from the Loxwood Joust. From memory the table was a non-rental long narrow one and bar staff reckoned it's been gone at least five years. 


But I've just spotted this review on the Kings Head (Billingshurst) which is a comparative recent one ...... I know the landlord Colin was talking a few years back about how he wanted to replace Pool with bar billiards:

Kings Head, Billingshurst: Food, beer, atmosphere and staff all very good. I think the bar billiard table needed fixing which someone politely pointed out in the end! A very pleasant evening.

Date of visit: October 2019

[tommo III]

Aug 1, 2021 11:01:15 GMT 1 JT said:
I have just heard that Southwater SC and the Lintot no longer have a table
Also Enquiries are been made with the Stout House about forming a team, and with the White Hart Cranleigh folding, and with Springbok Club folding a year earlier Malcolm Greening is going to investigate as to whether there is enough interest and players to form a second team at Alfold SC

Word on the street is that the Lintot team are now fixed up and will play at Roffey Cricket Club.

[tommo III]

Aug 14, 2021 19:11:07 GMT tommo III said:

 just spotted this review on the Kings Head (Billingshurst) which is a comparative recent one ...... I know the landlord Colin was talking a few years back about how he wanted to replace Pool with bar billiards:

Kings Head, Billingshurst: Food, beer, atmosphere and staff all very good. I think the bar billiard table needed fixing which someone politely pointed out in the end! A very pleasant evening.
Date of visit: October 2019

Well, this turned out to have been a wild goose chase.  This is what I had been getting excited about:

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1491893-d3616662-r725465772-The_Kings_Head-Billingshurst_Horsham_District_West_Sussex_England.html

A pleasant enough pub, light and roomy and immaculately clean.

A chat with the friendly bar manager revealed:

• Landlord Colin is still there, and after the downstairs re-fit is now commencing one upstairs.
  
• No hint of a bar billiards table as yet, but that is not to say that the plan doesn't remain on the back burner.

So confirmed that the Railway is now definitely the only pub in Billingshurst with bar billiards.

[chocie]

The Cricketers Wisborough Green will have a table as of this Saturday, I am putting one in for them.

[tommo III]

Tables now in both the Norfolk and the Star in Roffey.

Almost tempted to indulge once again in the weekend bar billiards pub crawls of the 70's and 80's !

[Ros]

I am pleased to report that there is now a table in the Dog & Duck at Warnham.
The pub are well known locally for great home cooked food (I can vouch for their baked tatties) and for pricing almost all their drinks @ £4.

Apparently there are regulars at the pub who have been asking for a table, so maybe the pub are prospects for a new Billingshurst or Horsham team. (9.5 miles from Billingshurst, 4 miles from Horsham)

Huge thanks to tommo, who gave me the heads up that the pub were interested in having a table.

[tommo III]

Jan 9, 2022 13:14:31 GMT Ros said:

I am pleased to report that there is now a table in the Dog & Duck at Warnham.

Good news for the region, I may make a visit within the next couple of weeks (Margo's car due in for annual service at B/B/Heath)


Speaking the other day to Boycie (captain of the Cricketers) and he mentioned that there is much 'youthful interest' at his venue, the table gets played a lot, and thence there is the prospect of a 'B' team in the future.

We were, though, of the same view that allowances should be made for any rookie teams, maybe allowing them handicaps, or all the breaks when facing seasoned competitors.

A lesson should be learned from the recent experience of the Inn on The Green, Ockley which joined the league a couple of years ago but became despondent through getting thrashed each week before withdrawing mid-season. As far as I know the table is still there and is maintained to league standard.

I reckon there is now the opportunity for the formation of a Billingshurst Second Division with, say, four teams:  but this to be for novice teams only, with the understanding that they wouldn't have to play the top teams, only each other. The Dog and Duck could sit comfortably within this set-up, the others being Cricketers B, the Inn on the Green (if they could be persuaded to give it another go) - and whichever team finishes bottom-of-the-league this season, which at the moment looks like being Alfold SC.


All are to the north or west of Horsham and are within easy reach of each other. So an exciting prospect lies ahead and I would commend this proposal to the Committee with the hope that it receives serious consideration ! 

tommo

[tommo III]

Had two hours to kill in between dropping Margo's car off at BB/H, a bus journey to greasy spoon cafe at Beare Green for breakfast, and breaking the journey back - stopping off at the Dog & Duck to try out Ros's table.

Landlord Danny was very friendly: although rushed off his feet in cooking and serving food he found time for a natter over b-b's. He used to play years ago in Worthing, particularly at the Swan and the Charles Dickens.

The D & D is an olde-worlde pub and we can recommend it for a visit. £4 a pint and equivalent amount for units of spirits. A nice drop of cider.
Table definitely playable, slight drift into each corner (though the same with many tables). Cloth and the pockets all in good order.  Position of the table is good and definitely conducive to league play.

A good day for us, breakfast deal at Surrey Hills Cafe included a free mug of tea, we saved £4.50 each with our bus passes, and Margo's car sailed through the MOT and the Service bill came to £50 less than quoted. So quids in !  

[tommo III]

No table any more in either the Springbok (removed) or Three Compasses (closed) according to intelligence received last night.