Dunham 2, Pub 1!!!

[JG]

Cor Blimey! Pubs! More hassle than they're worth.

Sometimes.

I remember playing down The Glade when they had Vamp it Up in there. It was when they first had it in Hills down Bs (when big name bookies still had fruits in). I knew Deano McShamus the Landlord at the time and he was ok with me going in there. Anyway it was some other rough girl behind the bar and Swinburn and his mates were in there (In the back at the games room) selling some diazepam (and other assorted junk) to the stoners, boners and crackheads who were on that old couch near the spittoon other side of the table.

Turned out Deano had to go down Jaspals as the cash and carry had blocked their account due to non payment of bills and he was negotiating a price on the white lightening.

Anyway, this was back in the day when it'd be flying from the off. I tried to ignore the scum around me and I jabbed in a definite freebie on my second or third board after a crafty nearest win onto yellows. I had £63 (yep it was a £48 bad boy) in the bank for about £10 in.

Swinburn (who played in Showboat before getting barred) starts mouthing off about me always being in there and always winning blah blah and using magnets and shit when people, honest drug taking/dealing people like him get done over every time on the machines and that I owed him £80 that he'd lost in some shitty Bar-X. All this was bull crap but he was stirring faster than an industrial mixer and a tide of hatred was rising in the pub as the junkies and wastrels were starting to gang up on the maverick streakyboomer. I was stashing that £63 in my trouser pockets (summer and no jacket) when the pikey bastard makes a grab for my stash AND my balls. Seeing red I grabbed a cue from the rack next to Vamp and poked him in the eye, that relinquished the grab on my balls and I landed him a smacker before getting whacked on the ear(?!) by one of the junkies, thankfully they were mostly heroin addicts spaced out on poison, export strength triple beer and other muck. Swinburn was the only crackhead making a song and dance otherwise I could have been seriously in trouble. Cornered the table and it turned into war with the available pool balls and I got caught a blinder on the bugle! A black ball on the bonce at full pelt doesn't half sting but I played foul when I shoved the white in his gob knocking out his remaining rotten stinkers. The mood was distinctly nasty and I ended up ripping the juke box off the wall and smashing it through the window as I feared for my safety and the standard mode of exit (the door) had been barracaded from inside the bar. Often used in the Glade so staff could isolate fights! The windows are now also bricked up, so it's even more like a prison except the clientele are worse!
Anyway in true Indiana fashion I plummetted(?) through the broken glass and ripped my shirt, scarred my left leg on the broken glass, cut my face and had my trainers ripped off by some scally.

I legged it away to the taunts and jeers of the wasters who had of course forceably scooped some coins from my pockets. I had only about £60 left which was near enough my original float, so in the scuffle coins must have gone everywhere which is what they wanted. I realised this pretty soon, but wounded, scarred and trainerless it wasn't the time for revenge.

Plus I felt sorry for Deano. He was always replacing broken windows and apparently that jukebox never did work again and he was very fond of the motown section. Swinburn got the blame, so most of them lot got barred which led to the windows being put through again, which I think after another random breakage the week after, led to him bricking up the windows in that room.

I was also asked not to play the machine there anymore, which wasn't a problem. They did have a Wombat at one point apparently, but I just couldn't be doing with the aggro, especially not with a well pumped one at the station! Before the ticket barriers.


That's why I'm an arcade person. If I do play pubs it's in pleasant welcoming pubs or Spoons and Walkabouts at sensible times and if it feels right.

I'm a bit more savvy now and I know it's sometimes not worth trying to be clever at risk of getting pummelled. Moral, don't play in dives unless you're packing some heat. Moral, is winning £75 worth fighting for survival? Nope. Not unless you're a crackhead anyway.

A lot of these rough dives are nothing more than licenced crack houses anyway, so watch your step. Anyone ever play The Fletch on The A45?
That's another story. I still have the scar on my top left leg.

[Dunhamzzz]

That story missed one vital BLOOP.

[Cardinal Sin]

Nice story. Keep 'em coming...