BBs in the Isle of Wight

[Kady]

I know that its not quite on the same subject as the thread, but we discovered a BB table at the venue below on holiday last week!
It was the variety with 4 pegs but it was a very pleasent surprise to see it!
I know its not the most practical place to get to, but if you want a complete list........

The Dairyman's Daughter
Tel: [phone]
Arreton Barns Craft Village, Main Road, Arreton, Isle of Wight, PO30 3AA
The Dairyman's Daughter Freehouse is a traditional village pub , set within Arreton Barns Craft Village. We offer freshly prepared home cooked food & offer up to 8 real ales.

Thanks Kady,

There used to be an Isle of Wight 'mini-league' back in the late 1970's, with 4 teams (2 from Cowes, one from Ryde and one from Gurnard).

Horsham league did a 15-person weekend tour in 1977 and played 4 competitive matches.  Their hospitality was excellent, especially at the main venue the Duke of York at Cowes.  (They came over to Horsham for the return a year later):

www.horshambarbilliards.co.uk/page33.html

It is great to know that bar billiards still exists in the IOW all this time later, albeit in 4-pin form.  Honchair in particular will be interested to know this.

Picked up from the Good Pub Guide 2012:

BUDDLE INN, ST CATHERINES ROAD, NITON UNDERCLIFF, ISLE OF WIGHT  P038 2NE  (Great pub, we've visited here - it's near the lighthouse - and had a nice meal. The addition of b-bs makes it perfect.......)


So, despite the tables having long since gone from the venues visited by the touring party in 1977, at the latest count six five tables exist in the Isle of Wight (all non-League of course):


The Princess Royal, 25 Cross Lane, Newport, I.O.W.  PO30 2JL
Dairyman's Daughter, Arreton Village Barn, Main Road, Newport, IOW  PO30 3AA
Cliff Hall Hotel, 16 Crescent Road, Shanklin, I.O.W.  PO37 6DJ
Bonchurch Inn, Bonchurch Shute, Bonchure, Ventnor,  Isle of Wight  PO38 1NU
Crab & Lobster Tap - non-League - Grove Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight PO38 1TH
The Buddle Inn, St Catherines Road, Niton Undercliff, IOW  PO38 2NE


[edit 21/3/13 to add the Bonchurch Inn]
[edit 28/6/17: Crab & Lobster Tap added]
[edit 01/9/17: Princess Royal deleted flwg advice from Chrissie Newson]

One more IOW one (already added to the AEBBA map of venues):

Bonchurch Inn, Bonchurch Shute, Bonchure, Ventnor,  Isle of Wight  PO38 1NU

(Source is "FancyAPint.com")

A visit planned some time to this one !

Crab & Lobster Tap - non-League - Grove Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight PO38 1TH
www.wightwash.org.uk/pubpage.php?town=ventnor&name=Crab%20and%20Lobster%20Tap

Sept 26, 2009 10:05:31 GMT tommo III said:

Thanks Kady,

There used to be an Isle of Wight 'mini-league' back in the late 1970's, with 4 teams (2 from Cowes, one from Ryde and one from Gurnard).

Horsham league did a 15-person weekend tour in 1977 and played 4 competitive matches.  Their hospitality was excellent, especially at the main venue the Duke of York at Cowes.  (They came over to Horsham for the return a year later):

www.horshambarbilliards.co.uk/page33.html

It is great to know that bar billiards still exists in the IOW all this time later, albeit in 4-pin form.  Honchair in particular will be interested to know this.

Above link does not work as on the 'old' website......Here it is on the 'new':

docs.google.com/document/d/1xbRJ3tjgqyDroR0KJ3T3R_15UIkca2PJ9ckg2br7_8U/pub

[tommo III]

Jul 5, 2012 23:29:55 GMT Deleted said:

......... at the latest count six five tables exist in the Isle of Wight (all non-League of course):
Dairyman's Daughter, Arreton Village Barn, Main Road, Newport, IOW  PO30 3AA
Cliff Hall Hotel, 16 Crescent Road, Shanklin, I.O.W.  PO37 6DJ
Bonchurch Inn, Bonchurch Shute, Bonchure, Ventnor,  Isle of Wight  PO38 1NU
Crab & Lobster Tap - non-League - Grove Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight PO38 1TH
The Buddle Inn, St Catherines Road, Niton Undercliff, IOW  PO38 2NE

At this time of year Margo and I feel the lure of the sea and try to make it over to Guernsey … however as things stand we couldn’t risk the 116 mile crossing so settled for a dash across the Solent to the Isle of Wight instead.
Our dual plan was to investigate the claimed bar billiards venues, whilst also taking in the various attractions, one of each for each day. So we did (Fri) Osborne House, (Sat) Wroxall Donkey Sanctuary, (Sun) Carisbrooke Castle, (Mon) Sandown Wildheart Animal Sanctuary. This in itself a compromise for animal lover (Margo) and history buff (me).
So here are the results of our table investigations, including any difficulties encountered for the traveller.

Cliff Hall Hotel, 16 Crescent Road, Shanklin, I.O.W. PO37 6DJ
This was a mere stone’s throw from our own Shanklin Hotel (a worthy rival to both Les Rocquettes and Jersey’s Merton - both for comfort, meals and with a sea view from our room). Reckon it would be safe to delete the Cliff Hall from the map as it was in darkness and with an uninviting “No Vacancies” sign on the door.

Bonchurch Inn, Bonchurch Shute, Bonchure, Ventnor, Isle of Wight PO38 1NU  - and
Crab & Lobster Tap - non-League - Grove Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight PO38 1TH
Bonchurch was difficult to reach, round a twisty narrow road and had no apparent parking so we gave up.
The Crab and Lobster Tap presented an equally nasty challenge, through Ventnor on hilly, narrow, twisting roads: my Satnav found it okay but again there was absolutely nowhere to park, no pull-in and double yellow lines everywhere. We risked leaving it on the latter and nipped in for s quick cider which was very tasty. The landlord was friendly enough to begin with but when we broached the subject of b-b’s his curt reply was “moved in here 10 years ago and on my first day I got rid of it”. The reason for this was that he could seat four people in the room it took up. Feeling a bit peckish, we asked what hot food he did and were told ‘none’ as the kitchen didn’t open until 5pm. At this point a regular called Andrew came to our rescue and - small world - he loved bar billiards and used to play in the Billingshurst League back in the 1980’s for the Fox at Bucks Green. We asked him about the Bonchurch and he confirmed that their table went about 15 years ago.

Dairyman's Daughter, Arreton Village Barn, Main Road, Newport, IOW PO30 3AA
On this occasion, Satnav took us to a pub called the White Lion, which we ventured into and liked very much indeed. The landlady was very friendly and gave us directions to the Dairyman’s Daughter, which you reach on foot via a path to the left of the ancient church of St George, leading past the lake to a charming little complex with tea rooms, gift shops and the D’s D which is a pub-restaurant. I had a good look inside but no b-b table was visible and the place was packed out with diners.

The Buddle Inn, St Catherines Road, Niton Undercliff, IOW PO38 2NE
Sadly we didn’t fit this one into our itinerary - I remember it from before as a nice place serving good food, but the St Catherine’s Point Lighthouse is currently closed to visitors so a further journey south wasn’t justified.

To sum up, then, it is quite likely there are no bar billiards venues left at all in the Isle of Wight, with a question mark remaining over the Buddle Inn which can stay on our map for the time being whilst the other four can be removed.