Event Review Ayse Balkos – Canine Teeth – The Ferret – Preston 8th May 2024

A powerful, often deeply moving, and honest monologue, a coming of age voyage of discovery, a coming of age drama,  a celebration of a woman’s freedom, independence and spirit, often funny, sometimes harrowing. 

Poster promoting the Canine Teeth Show

Ayse has poetry collections and songs and her stage show draws elements from those into a detailed step by step progression, taking in death, bereavement, peer group pressure, recreational drug use, encounters with men,  pride in her Turkish roots and finding her own feet in the World. 

There was some back projection early on the show, capturing urban Turkish townscapes though mostly this was Ayse holding the mic and audience attention  as she talked through he extraordinary, and yet also somehow every day relatable adventure in becoming who she is now.

Beginning with her Father’s death, Ayse found herself living with her Mum and grandmother,  who she describes as being there to ‘protect the chicks’ (Ayse and her sisters). Ayse stated that no one dares question, challenge or answer back to a Turkish mother, but simply obeys their instructions and orders. Ayse’s mother had plans for Ayse to grow up into a general management business role.

Ayse’s mimicking of the voices of her matriarchal mum, and gran are early highlights of the show,  reflecting not just Ayse becoming detached and rebelling but also a genuine affection and affection for these remarkable characters. 

The Ferret pub, Preston Lancashire

Young men and boys  face similar control from heir families.  Ayse describes the absurdity of male circumcision, often performed on older boys in Turkey rather than the better known in much of Europe version performed on Jewish infants.   Turkish boys are old enough to see, and remember the pain of their circumcisions.  They later have a coming of age party, around the age of thirteen where they are carried round on the shoulders by proud fathers, uncles and other men at events enjoyable to all but the terrified child himself. 

As Ayse grows, she discovers alcohol, recreational drugs and  encounters men who often try to control and manipulate her.  She eventually finds herself stoned, with a man who drives her up a high mountainside in the dark, before she breaks away insisting on walking off alone,  fortifying herself by singing the Turkish National Anthem over and over through the three hour trek to a safe haven. 

Ultimately, finding her own voice and identity, Ayse feels as if she has fulfilled her mother’s dream vision for her future. She has a much more complete general management of her own destiny. 

Book Cover – Ayse Balkos – Poems.

In many ways the presentation echoed the transition described. Ayse started by speaking to back projected film of an urban Turkish community, but the tech was not working at its best and Ayse called for it to be powered down, which drew much more focus where it mattered,  to her brave, funny, perceptive voice. 

A terrific insight into a country, culture, and most importantly, a powerful individual voice of creative, and political expression. 

Ayse has written poetry and set some of her experiences to songs too.

Thanks to Ayse Balkos,  Garry Cook,  Enjoy The Show, The Ferret (venue for the show).

Link – Ayse Balkos Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/@Aysebalkos/videos

Poetry Collection – Ayse Balkos Come To Tower 2024 – Self published.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197722676-come-to-tower

Photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

Nurcan’s Café Preston

Nurcan’s Café Preston

For some reason there is no Trip Advisor Page for Nurcan’s, so reviewing it here.

An incredible place to eat, a café with restaurant quality food in huge portions. Though also noted for its ice creams, but they will have to wait for a future visit as the Full all day Turkish Breakfast was a very filling meal in itself, fried eggs, pepperonis, other sausages, olives, molasses, honey, orange slices, feta cheese, jam and a very generous toast provision among more.

Service was helpful, everything was fresh and the café is nicely located in Preston’s inside Market.  

A big thanks to my friend Paul for introducing me to this place.

All photos taken by me, via Paul Ward’s phone camera.

Arthur Chappell

Poetry Event – The Ferret In Preston Matt Abbot And Carla Mellor 24th May 2023

A welcome live spoken word show at the Ferret, which is now safe from imminent closure thanks to a spirited crowdfunding support campaign to keep it going. 

Promoted, hosted and compered by Garry Cook and ‘Enjoy The Show’ this proved to be an excellent event. 

There was worry that it might flop due to low advance ticket sales but there proved to be a full house as many chose to pay at the door on arrival.  This is rarely a good move as some events may be cancelled if organisers and performers/presenters fear a low turn out and a weak box office or you might arrive on the night to find the show already sold out. 

Poet Carla Mellor at The Ferret, Preston

Carla was on in the first half. Yorkshire born, but living in Wigan, she writes short, sharp witted and poignant verse addressing drug culture, her struggles with ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and growing up in the Happy Valley Sowerby Bridge region where Netto was the Aldo of the 90’s, and she gained the nickname ‘Half-Can Carla’ from nursing the same beer for much of a party or night out, feigning drunkenness in the hope that a lady she admired would pay attention to her and look after her, closing a verse with the bold, brave, refreshingly candid and human observation that appearing drunk was a way to cover up for being seen as a ‘dyke’ at a time when such a perception might have generated rejection, bullying and great anxiety.  

She finished with a very moving and funny tribute to her grandfather, a karaoke obsessive who even made cassette rapes of his performances and handed them round to everyone he knew though Carla assured her audience that he was not a very good singer. She proudly held up a copy of one of his old cassettes during her reading, which plays wonderfully on many song titles. 

Poet, Matt Abbot at The Ferret, Preston

Matt Abbot had a more political and edgy bite, drawing with remarkable frankness on his younger self’s flirtations with football hooliganism. His depiction of Yorkshire’s Wakefield had many echoes of Carla’s Sowerby, with a particularly notorious imported energy drink associated with internet influencer brands sold there gaining the label Wakey Wines.  The drink, called Prime was retailing at around £2 a can in most shops but ran out quickly in some, so the proprietor of the Wakefield Wine Shop started selling cans for over £100 each and gained customers through clever online marketing until banned by Tik-Tok.   Matt is amused that when he mentions Wakefield anywhere in the World people react excitedly with a cry of ‘Wakey Wines’.  He depicted Wakefield as a world of Pikachu onesies. 

His work has a clear no nonsense working class left wing pride, and sense of the absurdities of modern life styles.  Either performer at this event is worth seeing alone and either could have topped the bill, so seeing both side by side was a tremendous experience, entertaining and informative. 

Thank you to the performers, Garry Cook and The Ferret, and friends who came along to this lovely show. 

Youtube of Matt Abbot in performance (from 2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dQRbC6gH2c

Carla Mellor performs Karaoke Grandad in 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BiXgw4qt3M 

Photos taken by me.  

Arthur Chappell

Beers Enjoyed In April 2023

Beers Enjoyed In April 2023 X22

A month dominated by the Eastercon science Fiction Convention in Birmingham, hence several Midlands based bars, ales and beers enjoyed at the con in this months selection of new beers (I  don’t list beers quaffed and logged in previous lists, just those enjoyed for the first time). 

Alpha Delta Brewing & Cannabeer – Galene 6% **** A unique beer for me in that it contains cannabis extract, though it is primarily a highly citrus beer. A very cloudy pale yellow look and a fruit taste that is a little overpowering.  Quite a novelty and certainly worth trying at least once.  Craft beer on draught – Smashed, Preston city centre. 

Chain House – An Open Letter To NYC 5.5% ***** Quirky looking very cloudy ale a friend described accurately as resembling pineapple juice and quite a citrussy if pricy ale specially brewed in the pub-brewhouse itself.  Real Ale – Chain House Taproom, Preston. 

Chapter Brewing – Dead Man’s Fist 5.5% ***** Fabulous classic smokey porter with cracked peppers – a terrific strong warming ale to start the month off with. Inspired by a Thomas Ingoldsby story, The Nurse’s Tale – Hand Of Glory.   THe hand logo is also reminiscent of The Wicker Man movie and novel. Real Ale – The Ferret, Preston. 

Goose Island – Midway – 4.9% ** Keg IPA on regular tap at the hotel,  served cold with a crisp citrus hoppy edge and a golden shine but rather bland.  Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Purity Jimbo beer clip

Kent Brewery – Comfortably Plum 4.9% ***** Delicious smooth tasting stout that is just about within the session ale boundaries.  Fin name inspired by Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb song.  Real Ale – Vinyl Tap, Preston. 

Overtone – Milk Chocolate 6% *** Sounds promising but tastes closer to coffee than milk,  and unusually fizzy too. Palatable but disappointing.  Real Ale – Chain House Taproom, Preston. 

Purity – Jimbo – 4% ***** Classic tasting best bitter named in memory of the brewery co-founder, James Minkin who died recently. Better still 5p on every pint sold is donated to Pancreatic Cancer research. Real Ale – Old Crown, Digbeth Birmingham 

Silhill – Gold Star 3.9% ***** Lightest strength and tasting of the Silhill range proffered at the Eastercon, and quite malty and copper coloured for such a session ale strength.  Good choice.  Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Silhill – Helle’s Lager 4.5% *** – Token lager not unlike the Camden Helle’s Lager, brewed in the true Bavarian style and to exacting standards. Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Silhill bar logo Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham (Temporary convention bar)

Silhill – Hop Star 4.2% Traditional crisp tasting golden ale, as hoppy as its name promises. Modest aftertaste. Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Silhill –North Star Hopped Porter 4.5% **** Light strength classic tasting moorish porter, close to stout in spirit.  Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Silhill – Pure Star 4.3% ***** My favourite of the convention’s great range of real ales,  given that it contains ingredients often linked to stronger ales, including chocolate, molasses and citrus in a copper coloured beer with a taste of chocolate orange. Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Silhill –Super Star 5.1% *** The most citrusy of the Silhill ales tried at Eastercon, blending many kinds of hops neatly and not a bad result. Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Silhill Beer Clips, Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham (Temporary convention bar)

Silhill –Talking Pint  5% ***** Specially created for the convention, hoppy and deceptively light tasting with a pleasing dry aftertaste. THis deserves to survive the event. Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Silhill –Wow! 4% *** Comes with a rich citrusy under-taste, pleasing but easily forgotten.  Real ale, Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

Tiny Rebel – Rocket Air 4% ** Unusually insipid and disappointing for a Tiny Rebel ale, as it tastes like drinking air at times. Cloudy golden, and very lightly hopped. The Roebuck – Birmingham city centre.  

Titanic – Last Porter Call 4.9% ***** Quite a light looking and tasting porter, just about within session ale strength limitations and nearer to dark brown than true black, but still very tasty and full bodied. Real ale – The Flat Iron, Chorley

Woodforde’s – Redlighter 4% ***** A very dry malty golden pale ale with just a dashing hint of citrus. A light fruity bouquet too.  Real ale – The Black Horse, Preston.

Yardsman – ODS Double Stout * A barman suggested I have a try before I buy taste of this as another stout I selected was unavailable, but this was a keg ale and coffee saturated and therefore not to my taste but the sampling was very welcome. Real ale – The Old Contemptibles, Birmingham City Centre 

Yardsman – Tara (Tropical American Rye Ale) 5% *** Copper coloured light tasting with a slow to kick gentle after taste. UNsure quite what to make of this one.  The Old Contemptibles, Birmingham City Centre 

Wine – Amobo – Pecorino – **** Italian white wine, a dry fruity zesty little number. Eastercon – Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham NEC

All photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

19 Beers Enjoyed In November 2022

Acorn Ales – Royal Oak – 3.7% ***** Acorn has branded this beer to match the pub name and the two share a traditional symbiosis. A beer with a citrusy mildly hoppy taste. Real ale – The Royal Oak – Halifax  

Adnam’s – Ease Up IPA – 4.5% ** Rather over-hopped sour tasting gluten free (though they admit there is a heavily reduced rather than a truly free gluten level) bitter, with grapefruit citrus added too.  Bottled. 

Pint pot beer

Badger – Fropical Ferret – 4.6% ***  Copper coloured, mango and passion fruit laced IPA, which is mildly hopped and not as exciting as it thinks it is.  Bottled  

Black Sheep – Cry Wolf (Black) 5% ***** Dark IPA that is very richly hopped, slightly fizzy, beautifully aromas and made with American hops.  Bottled. 

Bowland Brewery – Goal’d – 3.8% *** A World Cup rebranding for Bowland’s Gold ale, which looks closer to copper than golden. Modestly hoppy session ale that is not as exciting as it ought to be. Real ale – Hopwoods – Preston.    

Pint pot display – Hopwoods – Preston

Bowland Brewery – Retriever 4.2% **** Fine pale ale, nicely hopped with a hint of hops added too. Real Ale – Vinyl Tap. Preston 

Craven Brew – Black Angus Porter (BAP) – 4.5% ***** A very mellow, moorish porter, with a dark copper shine to its near black look.  A decent session ale strength for a porter too,  Real ale – The Three Pidgeons – Halifax  

Farm Yard Ales – Chaff -4.7%  Draught cask version of the ale, brewers American Pale Ale style with lots of fruitiness and a distinct barley flavour rather than hops. Real Ale – Vinyl Tap, Preston 

Farm Yard Ales – Hoof – 4.5% * This may be down to my personal revulsion for coffee so drinking a milky coffee flavoured stout was unwise – this just tastes like cold coffee. Most Farmyard craft ales are great. Canned craft ale – The Larder, Preston 

Heritage Brewing Co – Massey’s Original Mild 4% ***** Very much a classic discovery as Mild is an endangered species in the 21st century and this is a splendid example of what Mild should be. Real Ale – The Black Horse – Preston 

Beer glass

Heritage Brewing Co – Which Ale? 4.6% ***** Well bodied copper coloured ale, travery pleasant traditional bitter given a halloween-esque name Real Ale – The Black Horse – Preston 

Kirby Lonsdale – Tiffin Gold – 3.6% **** A very pleasant hoppy ale, golden and smooth with just the right touch of citrus-ness.  Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Preston. 

Lakeland Brewery – Skiddaw Ruby – 4.5% ***** Dark for a ruby ale, with very pleasing maltiness.  Real ale – Friargate Tap – Preston  

Lancaster – Blonde – 4% *** Hoppy ale with a hint of citrus, promoted with a promise of biscuitness but I failed to detect that. Crisp and slightly fizzy session ale. Bottled.  Real ale – Guild Ale House, Preston  

Lancaster – Victory – 4.1% ***** Gold-copper coloured ale, pleasingly hopped refreshing session ale. Real Ale – The Black Horse – Preston 

Mallinson’s Brewery – US Premium Ale – 4.5% **** Highly hopped American golden pale ale that is a little overpowering. Real ale – Guild Ale House, Preston  

Nailmaker – Chocolate Safari – 5.5% ***** Excellent, one of the finest ales quaffed this year, and very much what it’s name promises, with a fine chocolate taste.  Real ale – The Grayston Unity – Halifax 

Me with a beer bottle – taken by my dad when I was about 6

Red Rose Brewing Co – Lionheart – 5.4%  ***** Terrific Irish stout, dry with a hint of blackcurrant – just past session strength, but well worth  a quaff.  Real Ale – Tap Ends – Ashton, Preston. 

Red Rose Brewing Co – Treacle Miner’s Tipple – 3.8% ***** Delicious mild, so rarely seen or tasted in the 2020’s and this is a fine example of why it deserves a thorough revival.   Real Ale – Vinyl Tap, Preston 

Siren Craft Brewery – Lumina – 4.2% **** Mango infused hazy IPA that was promoted to me misleadingly as a cask ale though it is a craft beer and a decent session brew at that.  Cask – Roper Hall, Preston. 

All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.

Arthur Chappell

Day Trip To Scarborough 30th July 2022

My first day trip coach excursion for a while, and a chance to visit the seaside spa town, Scarborough, on the Yorkshire Coast. 

The weather forecast looked miserable, and though there was sporadic rain, it stayed warm and humid all day, with heavy rain only hitting as I returned to Preston. 

It was a popular trip, and the coach was filled close to capacity, with everyone in great spirits.  I got up at 6.30 am for the 8.20 am departure, and we reached Scarborough in the early afternoon, staying until 4.50 pm.

A lovely happy town. Though mainly interested in pub and pub sign art, there was a great deal more to see. The first photo opportunity was a garden decorated in the most spectacular display of garden gnomes ever.  

Gnomes – Scarborough

The beach is one of the most beautiful I have seen and the railway station is up there with the nicest architectural delights the UK has to offer.  

Beach, Scarborough

My essential note taking pen died on route so I set out to buy one at the first opportunity. An extortionate shop at the comfort break transport stop we used on the motorway wanted £3.00 for a simple basic biro I’d expect to get for 50p to 80p in most shops.  I decided to get one in Scarborough. The first likely shop I checked out there actually had none, but the shop keeper cheerfully just handed me a spare pen he had lying round and let me take that for free. 

The town has nearly sixty pubs, and I found about half of them drinking in only two, The Sun Inn and The Black Swan, though I found a few bars that promoted themselves as real ale and cask ale bars despite selling only keg. 

Pub sign – The Black Swan, Scarborough

The coach got back into Preston at just gone 8pm. 

After a bite to eat in a cafe and a quick pint in The Preston based Friargate Tap, I came home, at the close of a great trip. Thanks to Waltons Coaches, the people I met on the adventure, etc. 

If you are interested in pub sign study check out the Inn Sign Society https://www.innsignsociety.com/ 

All photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

Arts Event Review – Katie Damer – Totally Trucked – The Ferret – Preston 28th July 2022

After a brief on route visit to the Friargate Tap I headed to The Ferret for what proved to be a fantastic one woman show by tour de force Katie Damer, presenting a remarkable tale of overcoming incredible pain and adversity to attain great achievement, self-worth and sheer love of life. 

Poster for Totally Trucked

Katie’s presentation comes at a breath taking pace, and she barely paused for breath for the first twenty minutes or so, capturing well the life of a fairly ordinary North Manchester teenager, getting through school, drinking with friends and early relationships. 

Poster for Totally Trucked

Just as Katie got into a fitness kick and took to cycling, events took a near tragic turn when she was knocked from her bike in a collision with a truck (lorry). The bike was a write off though Katie seemed to come through with what initially appeared to be a minor leg injury, until trapped nerves caused incredible chronic pain and raised fears that she might lose the ability to ever walk again.The prospect of zimmer frames and wheel-chairs hung over her like a Damoclean sword.  (That she bounds around the stage already serves as a spoiler to the outcome of this).   

The Ferret pub sign

With time, her arm and hands began to cramp severely, as a result of prolonged use in supporting her crutches.  

Though maintaining her studies, and wild a life of teenage rebellious hedonism, Katie was giving way to bouts of despair and even tried taking her own life. (She was given suggestions by her mother that she may have been attempting this even in the truck-bike accident, though Katie was left uncertain and self doubting from this). 

With incredible fortitude and good fortune, Katie bounced forward, and her talk ends with a burst of film footage capturing her triumph just after the girl who might never walk again successfully completed the London Marathon. 

More astonishing, the serious tale could easily have been filled with a great air of woe and self pity but Katie presents it with astounding good humour and cheery infectious optimism.   She received a much deserved standing ovation, not just for a great show, but all she has achieved in an amazing life. Her new show, Dots And Daisies, is going to Edinburgh Fringe soon.  I’m sure it will be sensational.

Much in Totally Trucked resonated with me personally, notably that much of the story is set in North Manchester. Having lived in Moston prior to my move to Preston in 2016 I could relate to the locations referenced including the Cleveland pub in Crumpsall. 

Also, in my ongoing recovery from bowel cancer, and having to wear a stoma bag ( am developing ways to incorporate my situation into my own writings and poetry performances with as much emphasis on humour as on the serious points to touch on, so seeing someone achieve that so beautifully is really encouraging.  

The Cleveland Pub, Crumpsall, Manchester

Thanks to the Ferret for hosting such fantastic shows and Garry Cook for not only organizing and promoting the event but also giving me a life home afterwards.  

All photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell 

Event Review – New Stars Of Poetry 30th June 2022

A great way to end the middle of the year, attending and participating in a poetry show at Preston’s Ferret Bar. 

The Ferret Pub – Preston

Around lunchtime I headed to the Intact community centre to print out the poem I hoped to read out (I don’t have a printer at home). I found the centre was running its monthly community lunch event with meals for all that you could have for free or for whatever you want to donate. I chucked in a few quid and had a very nicely made butter pie, got my poem ready and chilled out for most of the afternoon. 

In the evening I thought I’d get a few pre-show beers at a favourite city centre bar only to find they had 1/. No cask real ales on tap (they usually have three), 2/. No Guinness (my usual alternative when there is no real ale) and 3/. The beer tin and bottle fridges were mostly empty too. With a polite no thanks I headed to Vinyl Tap which did have beer on, which I enjoyed while reading through some of their Judge Dredd graphic novels before heading to The Ferret for the show. 

The Vinyl Tap Bar, Preston

My first few stage performances after moving to Preston from Manchester in August 2016 were at the Ferret so this chance to perform was a lovely trip down memory  lane. The event was organised by Garry Cook, who acted as MC.  

Poster for the show being reviewed here

There were four open mic slots, of which I had the first. THe audience quire enjoyed my No Drop Of E poem, inspired by Ernest Vincent Wright’s 1939 novel Gadsby, which runs to 50,110 words and therefore got into the record books.  Mercifully for the audience my poem is much shorter. 

Two of the other open mic’ers followed me and delivered terrific sets, and then we got the first of the two invited headliners, T.M/O, (T Monteresi), with a superb dry, calmly angry passionate hip-hop style that seems charged with emotional intensity and raw undiluted honesty. 

After a short beer break, the final open mic performer presented and then the second headliner came on. Amy Lee Tempest, a Burnley based poet, and counsellor who writes of broken relationships and what she regards as her own frailties and failings though she comes over as much more in control and strong than she perhaps imagines.  She describes a relationship break up as a ‘mini-grief’.   

She closed the night by inviting the audience to chose which of her poems she should do, one with a happy ending, and one where she finally finds happiness. I voted for the latter but the vote went in favour of an unhappy piece, but I certainly hope she has a happier future ahead of her. 

Amy & T.M/O had been in one of the few events in the Lancashire Fringe Arts Festival (also organised by Garry Cook) that I missed so this was a great chance to catch up. 

Thanks to the poets, audience, The Ferret, and Garry Cook. (Thanks to Judge Dredd optional). Fortunately, The Ferret & Vinyl Tap had lots of good drinks to choose from. 

Youtube of T.M/O in performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMFJEQXaRao  Her website https://tmonterisi.wordpress.com/ 

Youtube of Amy Lee Tempest in performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb5-JQamYxs 

The bar that had hardly anything to drink made me think of this song. Slim Dusty’s The Pub With No Beer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ya3fU8HwiU 

Arthur Chappell (Photos taken by me)

Travel Review Coventry And Stratford On Avon 24th – 26th June 2022 Day 2 And 3

Saturday 25th June 2022 

I had to embark on a long journey to Stratford On Avon, for which there is a frequent bus service and the ride takes about an hour. I was grateful to escape from the worse guest accommodation since Norman Bates opened his motel too.  Commuting from Coventry was cheaper than staying in Stratford (just don’t go to the same guest house I did). 

It was a nice sunny day so I was happy to go without my big coat. 

I had spotted the bus stop for the Stratford services on my Friday walkabout. I was worried the bus might get crowded as the trains were on full strike for the day.  In fact, the bus was only about half full  It was a lovely journey taking in Leamington Spa (which looks gorgeous) and Warwick, including its castle, on route. 

Shakespeare statue – Stratford On Avon

Stratford On Avon is equally great, with Elizabethan buildings all around. They inevitably remind you of Shakespeare at every turn.  There is a quite odd board you can pop your head in to pretend to be Shakespeare giving everyone the finger in the town centre.

Be Shakespeare Being Rude – Stratford On Avon

I got several pub sign photos before heading to the meeting that drew me to the Midlands in the first place. We were meeting at The White Swan Hotel, which I knew from instructions I’d received to be in the heart of the city centre. So when the first chap I asked for directions told me it was twenty minutes walk out of town down the canal-side I just nodded thanks and asked the next person I saw. It amounted to, ‘Walk to that clock tower there and turn right.’ This proved somewhat more accurate than the first chap’s advice. Maybe he had seen a swan on the canal, rather than a White Swan Hotel. 

Clock Tower – Stratford On Avon

The hotel is really classy and the staff were terrific. The meeting room was perfect and a few members of The Inn Sign Society were already present.  This was our first in person meeting in three years due to Covid Lockdown. It was great to meet some of the people who share my obsession with pub signs. 

The White Swan Inn Sign – Stratford On Avon

The meeting was tinged with sadness as the society’s marvelous Chair and photo archivist, Derek ‘Dellboy’ Macdonald had recently died, and there was a very moving minute’s silence for him and other members lost to the reaper in recent years.   

Much of the meeting was basic committee stuff with all the hard working elected committee members happy to  stay in office unchallenged.  

Swan art in The White Swan Inn – Stratford On Avon

I had a couple of things to mention in the ‘any other business’ moments on the agenda. I was able to thank everyone for support when I was going through my struggle with bowel cancer during the lockdown, and I mentioned my current book projects on pub sign books which have strong publisher interest. The society were happy to grant me permission to draw on photo images from its extensive archives (which I have a CD copy of), as long as the society is fully credited for any images used.  This gives me an enormous resource to tap into. 

A closing discussion was aimed at securing younger members as many current sign collectors are getting on a bit (I’m sixty myself). It was interesting that when we were asked how we were drawn in ourselves, many of us had a similar story – We found that we were interested in signs on our own, and then found the society when looking online to see who else shares our passion. There may well be others out there who love signs but haven’t yet thought to unite with other fans and collectors. 

Post meeting, there was a very nice buffet spread, and as many members hadn’t made it due to the travel chaos caused by industrial action on the trains, there was way more than we could eat between us.  We were encouraged to take some food away with us which covered me for my evening meal  and my food for the journey home on Sunday. 

Sign for The Rose And Crown – Stratford On Avon

I got more sign photos in Stratford and met up with a poet-friend, John Holder, who I have discussed work with on a Haiku writer’s site. We got a chance to chat in a very nice pub called The Rose & Crown for an hour before heading on with our lives. I hot a few more photos in the town before heading back to Coventry on the bus. I had my buffet tea in a square there, got some more photos and popped in two pubs. 

The first was the small, and lively Town Wall Tavern, which seemed to be crowded without feeling claustrophobic. 

Sign for the Town Wall Tavern – Coventry

I closed the day’s wanderings in The Squirrel, a popular student bar, and the only one I used that wasn’t a real ale bar but I had a very nice Irish Stout. 

Sign For The Squirrel – Coventry

Back to the house of horrors then.  I saw from the open room doors that the other guests had already checked out so I probably had the place to myself. I headed to my room and packed anything un-needed for my departure trip and went to bed. 

Sunday 26th June – Not much to report here. Glad to get out of the wretched guest house alive, so I got my luggage down the sheer cliff stairway with difficulty, got out the door, locked it and as instructed, chucked the key back through the letterbox. I walked to the train station in a sharp but exhilarating breeze. As the strikes were now over I expected my ride home to go smoothly, as they had coming out, but I was wrong.  No direct train to Preston for me. I had to get a replacement bus to Birmingham International first. I arrived there expecting a through train, but no, I would have to change services at Wolverhampton. From there I did get to Preston to find a twenty minute bus delay and finally got home about 3.20pm.

My thanks to the people of Coventry and Stratford and fellow guests at the  anonymous horrible guest house (who’s owners deserve no gratitude whatsoever), to all in The Inn Sign Society, poet John Holder, etc. 

Link  – The Inn Sign Society – https://www.innsignsociety.com/

Arthur Chappell 

Travel Review Coventry And Stratford On Avon 24th – 26th June 2022 – The First Day

Travel Review Coventry And Stratford On Avon 24th – 26th June 2022 – The First Day

I visited the West Midlands and Warwickshire towns as I was attending the AGM of The Inn Sign Society on the Saturday (25th June) In Stratford. Finding, when booking that accommodation in Stratford itself was very expensive, I worked out the cheaper option was finding a basic B & B, private guest house or hostel in Coventry which is an hour from Stratford on local bus services. I have stayed in budget accommodation before, and find it usually fine. I’m not after five star pampering and the room is generally just a dry secure place to sleep and keep my luggage. I spend much of the day and night exploring and socializing, taking photos and drinking. Little was I to know that this time I was heading to the worst accommodation ever. 

Trawling Booking.Com threw up a private house subletting rooms to guests. It was a terraced house on an estate close to the city centre. It seemed OK. (It wasn’t). The first clue was their address. They announced it was on Sandy Lane but did not give the house number (52) until I asked about it. A request for an earlier check in time than 6pm was ignored. 

52 Sandy Lane, Coventry, CV6 3FZ, United Kingdom – taken by me

After booking the hotel online and my train tickets, the rail services announced major strikes on days surrounding my departure day, which I later found was affected as some trains were canceled on the between-strikes Friday of my journey but I was OK to go on a service two hours after the one I initially planned. 

train strike union pickets in Preston

The train ran just fine, getting me to Coventry for about 1.30pm. I hauled my relatively light case round the city taking photos up to the 6pm check in time.  Lots of great statues including one to the city’s most famous character, Lady Godiva. 

Statue – Lady Godiva – Coventry

I stopped off at a pub called The Philip Larkin, which was fine, though disappointing in having no Larkin photos or poems on the walls inside the pub (just his portrait on the sign itself). The beer mats on the tables were often falling to bits from over-use. 

Sign for The Philip Larkin pub – Coventry

Amazingly, I realized ten minutes after leaving the pub that I’d left my suitcase there. I went back for it and found staff had looked after it for me which was lovely. 

Ragged beer mats in The Philip Larkin pub, Coventry

At 5.30 I followed Google Map directions to Sandy Lane, a mix of terraced housing and railway siding crofts. The house I was to stay at looked empty. A little early, I sat on an embankment opposite, increasingly concerned to see no one enter the house as 6pm hit. I knocked, unsurprised by the lack of an answer. After another 20 minutes I checked with a neighbor that it was the right place and does take in overnight guests. He assured me it was. 

Outside toilet next to the guest house

40 minutes in, panic kicked in. I didn’t have a smartphone, laptop or a number for my hosts. I thought I’d leave a little longer before checking into another place despite what it might cost. 

Rubbish in the alley leading to the jidden keys to the guest house

A car pulled up. I thought it was the owners at last but it was another guest, with a mate who just came to give him a lift to the venue. They were alarmed by our literally absentee landlords too but they managed to get a message from him on a smartphone. The keys were in a key safe by the back door.  We went down a dank dingy litter strewn narrow alley, past a broken, smelly outside toilet cubicle, and round to the back door in a cruddy garden. We found the key safe, and its code was given to us a single digit repeated four times.  Treasure hunt achieved, we went back round to the front door, used the complicated dead-lock and got inside, finding few light switches, and lots of notes ordering us not to smoke. The downstairs rooms looked fine save for a savage ha-ha step going into the kitchen behind which the toilet was situated. 

Shoe used to show narrowness of the stairs and frayed carpeting at the guest house.

The stairs proved to be deadly, being Narrow steep, with ragged carpeting, and a light that only illuminated the lower half.  We had to get our luggage up them too. Upstairs, various wires, a spot lamp and other junk littered the corridor. The rooms seemed similar, so the other chap took one, and gave me the key to the other, keeping the third for the expected arrival of the third guest (who eventually arrived though I never met him or her). I unlocked the room door, a struggle in itself in the bad light. I ended up using a micro torch on my personal door keys to see and do it.  I entered the room, and fell flat on my face. There was a ha-ha step similar to the one in the kitchen.  The other lads checked I was OK, and though I severely sprained an elbow and wrist I felt OK.  I switched to the middle room then, as it didn’t have such a hidden stair booby trap. 

Solitary novel left as reading material to pass the time of my visit

My room was rubbish, having few powerpoints, no bedside lamp, and there being no toilets upstairs, any toilet visits would mean going down those stairs in semi darkness.  A solitary book was left in the room for my entertainment, some sort of spy thriller, which I ignored.

Broken mirror frame in the guest house

The mirror was hanging off the wall and there was a string of picture nails with no pictures too. 

Nails in the walls – Guest house

I had no desire to spend more time in this Hell Hole than I had to, so luggage dumped in the room, I headed out exploring the city again, traveling much lighter now.  

I wanted food and beer and The Litten Tree pub seemed to offer both. It was a big pub and mostly empty.  The beer was top notch but the curry I ordered seemed slow in coming. Then the music kicked in, at ear-bleed level noise.  People passing on the other side of the street were dancing to the tunes. 

Pub sign for The Litten Tree – Coventry

A girl who wanted me to pass her the drinks and jer jacket from her earlier table to the new one she’d decided was better had great difficulty getting her simple request to me. I was happy to help her once we’d worked out how to mime. 

Still no sign of food forty minutes on so I complained to be told there was a 40 minute delay as they were so busy. I looked round the largely empty bar and two people dining and canceled my food order on the spot. 

I grabbed a kebab and as it was a warm evening I sat on a bench while I ate it before going in The Old Windmill, the city’s oldest pub, with genuine Elizabethan timbering and this proved to be a place with a magical atmosphere, and clearly a popular live entertainment  venue. Most customers were cramming in close in one room to watch the singer joining in on his songs and calling for encores when he seemed likely to finish.  This wasn’t just a good pub, it was magnificent.

Pub Sign for The Old Windmill – Coventry

I was tempted to stay late but I had an early start to get to Stratford on the Saturday morning so I steeled myself to moving on.  I was going to walk to the rubbish digs I had to my surprise it was raining, so I grabbed a cab, got in and headed straight for bed, taking care not to fall down the Temple Of Doom stairs. I’ll covder saturday’s events in a follow up article.

All photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell