'Spoons. What does yours tell you?

[Sid-104]

While Wetherspoons may not be to everyone's taste, I do like the information they have about the local area in their pubs. Here is a selection from the one near my home in Downham Market, Norfolk, plus a view of the town clock dating back to the 1800s. Like most quiet market towns, it's not known for too much, but some of you may recall the news coverage when a young dustman bought his winning 22 million lottery ticket in the town in the early years of the National Lottery.

Cheers, Sid.

DM2 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM3 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM4 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM5 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM6 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM7 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM8 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM9 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

DM1 by Andrew Cutworth, on Flickr

[reheat module]

What a unique and interesting post, and a super invite trigger to visit the local 'spoons to see what they hold.
Cornelius Vermuyden was also involved in land drainage in my area, south of the Humber between Goole and Scunthorpe.
That clock at Downham Market brings back memories of my RAF Tanker time at Sunny Marham-by-the-sea

[Sparts99]

Blimey, my local spoons has nothing like this and to be quite frank, stinks.

[Mark]

Mine in Waterloo, Merseyside covers Henry Melly who made the first ever non-stop flight between Liverpool and Manchester. Melly and his passenger A. Dukinfield made the flight from Waterloo sands to Trafford Park in just 40 minutes on the 17 July 1911..

[Sid-104]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm pleased my local has included Jim Russell. I had the pleasure of working in Jim's garage for six years until it closed in 2007. Being a motor sport fan myself, we would often get chatting about racing. On one occasion, back when Jim ran his racing driver's schools, he told me about a letter he received from a young driver just starting up in racing, asking if there was a chance of any help Jim could offer. At the time, Jim had a very good relationship with Ford, whom he spoke to regarding the driver, and manage to secure £500, a good sum back then, which he duly passed on. The young driver's name was James Hunt.
Many years later, Jim was attending an F1 race in Europe. James was by then a Grand Prix commentator for the BBC. At the end of the race, he needed to return home unexpectedly, but all flights were full. Jim had chartered a private plane for his trip and offered James a lift. On the flight home he asked Jim if he remembered the letter, Jim replied he did. he went on to say that he had written to many a company, none of whom would help. He was on the point of giving up on his hopes of being a racing driver when Jim came good and he had never forgotten the help Jim gave him. And the rest, as they say, is history.

[raptor9]

AH, the Golden Age of Motor Racing. So many people helped by Jim Russell. Oversubscribed grids etc., Good days. We meet friends in Wetherspoon in Bury St Edmunds every Wednesday morning. A great watering hole. Pay your money for a mug, have constant refills of tea, chocolate etc. Made more friends there as well. It was recently voted the best in the country I believe.

[Mustang531]

My local Wetherspoons in Oxted is nowadays the pub to go to for a good pint. Very enthusiastic manager and good team too. I've probably visited about 200 different ones since the early nineties. Some very interesting buildings repurposed, but always have plenty to look at regarding local history. One I visit, not too far from me is the Opera House in Tunbridge Wells, it is in the Opera House and a couple of times of year, they do perform an opera there. As it's not normal for these pubs to host music events, I assume there is a special licence for the events.

[blackbird60]

There is one in Stafford that covers film themes in the 50s
Actors like Derek Bogart,his famous saying,play it again sam,Clint eastwood,Burt lancaster ,many many others in the days were films were films,great actors,sadly they dont make them anymore.

[Mustang531]

There's a couple more that have cinematic connections, the Ritz in Lincoln was the foyer area of the old cinema. It has some art deco features. But in Whitstable in North Kent, the JDW pub is named the Peter Cushing, after the actor who once lived in the town. The pub is a former cinema, but has a large collection of Hammer Horror film posters displayed. Well worth a visit.

[Dean.E]

All I’ll say about my local Wetherspoons is someone took a horse in there once,
you can google that.
I stopped going in many years ago,and I don’t drink these days.
It’s called the Sir Henry Newbolt.