The Nightjar
A larger than is healthy percentage of my mis-spent youth was lived out between those four walls. So many happy memories, including:
Bunking off 6th form for the afternoon and gambling on the fruit machine.
The Bog Cram – a challenge to see how many pissed up locals could squeeze themselves into a toilet cubicle. 17, if my memory serves me correctly.
Going for a piss and pulling your trousers and pants right down to your ankles like when you’re 5 years old for the amusement of the blokes walking in afterwards.
Playing “Killer” on the dartboard and always collectively knocking Phil out first as he got a proper cob on every time. Priceless.
Halloween fancy dress nights where for some reason a prize was given for the best bloke in drag. The aforementioned Phil went to the trouble of shaving his legs to go with his little velvet black cocktail dress one year which most thought was taking it a bit too far…
A New Year’s game where all of us (male) locals took Polaroid pictures of our cocks and separate ones of our faces then got the girls to match them up. Interesting results.
“Layla” by Derek and the Dominoes playing almost constantly on the old jukebox and then when it was replaced with a video one “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden.
Writing and presenting the Tuesday night pub quiz and getting paid in beer for it. I used to include a bonus round of drinks prize for the sickest and most topical team name. The week in which Bill Clinton allowed homosexuals to serve in the US army the winning team were called “Bill backs down on gay privates”. You don’t even want to know about some of the others, trust me.
The legendary lock-ins. The best one I can remember ended with us opening the doors at 11am and ordering breakfast…
Working my way through about 12 barmaids in a row with the line “I live down the road and have a waterbed”. This information preceded me sometimes and once I pulled the new barmaid before I met her. This was a long time ago, before I was an old greying fat man, by the way.
Many many more I could tell, and maybe will another time.

The Nightjar has sadly turned into one of those soulless generic chain pub places these days, but anyone who used to drink there in the 80s and 90s will remember it as fondly as I do. Ahhh. Them were the days.
Nice to be back, by the way - I've been busy having twins (not in the fun way, either).
( BobbyParadise, Wed 11 Feb 2009, 13:30, Reply)