Angling Hostelry's.

Derek Gibson · Jul 8, 2017

Many years ago such places were often adorned with cased fish plus certain examples of angling tackle, gaff's, creels etc. And what an inspiration they were to us young anglers, often gazing at the examples longingly.

Three of those pubs remain vivid in my minds eye. The Castle Inn in Boston, The Queen's Head in Sheffield, and The Kings Head in Ingoldmells Skegness. All three left an indelible impression in my mind, and lit a fire that remains to this day, especially if the examples were by ''Cooper''.

My question is this, do such places exist today?

mikench · Jul 8, 2017

I have been in a pub recently which had preserved salmon and trout in cases on the walls and lots of old fly tackle as well! For the life of me however I cannot recall where it was ! When and if my RAM comes back I will reveal all

thecrow · Jul 8, 2017

The best I have ever visited was the Landsend on the river Loddon, lots of huge cased fish of different species in there.

binka · Jul 8, 2017

That's exactly the type of place which would attract me and one of the very few these days given the price of pub beer.

I'm struggling to think of one though!

There are many pubs which I would associate with fishing, such as The Bromley Arms (now just The Bromley, I believe) but none that haven't gone down the modern refurbishment route.

Maybe, in the eyes of the large scale commercial brewing trade, we've become a bit of a risky theme such as fox hunting and they wouldn't want to risk the sale of a G&T?

Or more likely that the plastic fascia brigade has maybe offered a more universally acceptable and economically viable alternative?

Derek Gibson · Jul 8, 2017

Steve, when I tell you that there were on display, Perch and Pike magnificently presented in their bow fronted cases, I would make a guess that you would be impressed.

A mate of mine just happens to have a cased Pike taken in the 1920's, plus a case of Perch circa 1930's in his tackle room from one of the above establishments, that still have me drooling.

Very remiss of me I know but I omitted to mention, The Lamb and Flag at Welny had a few classic examples, including a veritable monster of a Pike, that would set the pulses racing in any serious Pike angler. I suspect the Crow maybe aware of this.

Mark Wintle · Jul 8, 2017

One of my local pubs, The Coventry Arms, did have a lot of angling collectibles when the then owner was an angling collector but he sold up years ago. One of the Ringwood pubs - The King's Arms, I think - did have replicas of some huge Avon salmon, and I've visited The Land's End at Charvil a number of times for book events.

thecrow · Jul 8, 2017

Derek Gibson said:
Very remiss of me I know but I omitted to mention, The Lamb and Flag at Welny had a few classic examples, including a veritable monster of a Pike, that would set the pulses racing in any serious Pike angler. I suspect the Crow maybe aware of this.

Ha Ha I remember 3 of us being asked to leave this place because of our "interesting aroma" after 2 days of pike fishing we smelt like a fishmongers slab

Peter Jacobs · Jul 8, 2017

These days I don't know of a single (relatively) local pub' that fits the brief Derek.

The Bull at Downton used to be a great angling pub' but that was many years ago now and soon suffered the plastic refurbishment craze.

The Old Beams at Ibsley again was a great angling pub' but closed for "renovations" that ruined the place . . . .

The Mayfly at Stockbridge years ago sported a lot of cased Trout but was also a victim of the renovation phase . . . .

I think it is sad loss to be honest but I suppose that angling themed pub's just became unpopular or is that unprofitable?

Apparently the punters these days just want bland off white walls punctuated at intervals with plastic "oak" beams where they can sup their lager at northwards of £6 a pint while they order scampi in a ruddy basket or other such offerings . . . . all tasteless but equally over priced . . .

How many of us actually stop in at the pcal pub' after a day fishing anyway?

The laws against drink driving and then no smoking seemed to put an end to the proper local pub' anyway.

barbelboi · Jul 8, 2017

thecrow said:
The best I have ever visited was the Landsend on the river Loddon, lots of huge cased fish of different species in there.

The Lands End at Charvil is a more recent addition to an angling theme pub. It was my local for some seven years during the 70's and was just an ordinary country pub - a complete refurbishment, etc. took place in later years. One bonus at the time was exclusive fishing rights to approximately 800yds of the 'Old River' (Loddon) by the farmer who's land bordered the pub.....

flightliner · Jul 8, 2017

The robin hood pub near my place was adorned with angling memorabilia , eel spears, old prints, cased tench and perch and the like.
I was given a god knows how old "burnt effect" three piece cane rod that I re-whipped and tidied up and gave it to the landlord for his display but he left a few months later before it went up.
Two pubs later he has returned but after a complete refit it displays only a tiny amount of what was on show before.
Back in the sixties I had several holidays on the Witham at Tattershall in the well known lodge cafe where the owner from leigh in lancashhire was a superb chub angler (river bain)
who also owned a chip shop in a neighbouring village. There were some huge glass cased chub and roach in the cafe but only in the upstairs for guests to bear winess but in his chippy there were a fair few on the back wall.

Peter Jacobs · Jul 8, 2017

Prompted by this thread I spent a little while looking for cased fish online, for sale . . . .

It seems that Roach and Dace are around the £250 mark while Tench and Bream can fetch up to a grand and large Carp several thousands . . . .wow

I've always fancied a few in my study . . . .

Hugh Bailey · Jul 8, 2017

There is a pub just upstream of Henley that has loads of glass cases - can't remember the name. Big roach chub and pike but lots of stuff in there, not just fish if I remember correctly. TBH I was the only one in our group that didn't find it a bit creepy.

Tee-Cee · Jul 9, 2017

Yes, The Land's End at Charvil has an angling theme, but the food not up to much on my last visit. Some nice roach on display, though.

Just outside Henley in the tiny village of Aston (off Remenham Hill) we have The Flower Pot which is loaded with cased fish, although not all in great nick. They serve a good pint though, and the rather expensive fish & chips can be very good. Almost on the river, the adjacent Thames foot path offers very pleasant walks to Henley in one direction and Hurley in the other.
I have walked this footpath countless times and it is virtually unfished IMO as I rarely see an angler, but it is long, straight and deep and short on features..........

ps Midweek, some areas around the Hurley village stretch are quieter and offer more interesting fishing with parking not too bad.

smudger172 · Jul 9, 2017

The Anglers Retreat at Marsworth had quite a few cased fish adorning the walls in the bar, the last time i was in there. I can remember there being perch roach and pike. Probably caught from Startops reservoir...

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Jul 9, 2017

The British Oak in Mosborough has a pike and a roach in cases also old shot guns on the wall

Very good food at good prices and quality beer
Real ale beer also for the younger drinker they stock flavoured cider in case you like cocktails

steve2 · Jul 9, 2017

There was a pub that I use to use where always stopped off a drink after fishing. I hadn’t been there for a few years I drove into the car park only to find that it had been converted into a house. I was now parked in their garden. Went onto the next one only to find most of the country pubs were now houses.

Hugh Bailey · Jul 9, 2017

Tee-Cee said:
Just outside Henley in the tiny village of Aston (off Remenham Hill) we have The Flower Pot which is loaded with cased fish, although not all in great nick. They serve a good pint though, and the rather expensive fish & chips can be very good. Almost on the river, the adjacent Thames foot path offers very pleasant walks to Henley in one direction and Hurley in the other.
I have walked this footpath countless times and it is virtually unfished IMO as I rarely see an angler, but it is long, straight and deep and short on features..........

I think that might be the place - is it walkable from the towpath? The food was pretty good, and yes , every time we've walked from Henley to the next weir, I've never seen any one fishing (apart from Matt Hayes and Mick Brown on telly fishing for perch).

Is it private there?

flightliner · Aug 2, 2017

We had a pub lunch today in the pub where I mentioned a case of old fishing implements so I took the liberty of taking a foto------(hang on a mo)

binka · Aug 2, 2017

flightliner said:
We had a pub lunch today in the pub where I mentioned a case of old fishing implements so I took the liberty of taking a foto------(hang on a mo)

Wait for it...

Drum roll...

---------- Post added at 21:59 ---------- Previous post was at 21:24 ----------

In light of the on going drum roll which is in danger of wearing through the covers here is Flight's pic...

Is it something to do with eel trapping Mick?

I seem to recall seeing those fork type things somewhere before and reading that they were used for pinning eels to the ground...

flightliner · Aug 2, 2017

The top fork in the pik is a salmon fork , the bottom one is an eel spear Steve. Sorry the labelling is unclear tho.

Look closely and to the mid bottom right you will see a pair of welsh snatch hooks , the varnished wooden item with the curved end and metel keel is an otter board used to get a baited line mid lake or river ( anyone know how they work?).
Hard to see but what looks like a large wine bottle cork is a gravel ledger (????) It's intention I did'nt quite fathom out.
All used mostly at a time I suppose when things were very differant today but I suppose not entirely so sadly.
I was intriqued by the otter board tho-- feeling it could have a legitimate angling use.

Angling Hostelry's.

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

binka

Guest

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Moderator

Well-known member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

binka

Guest

Well-known member