revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I've been meeting up once a week in the local with the same few friends for over 25 years.
We have a chat , drink and then play cards. Even though we play for small change it can still get
a bit competitive at times.
More recently we have had the younger bar staff asking what we are doing? They often seem
genuinely intrigued at what we are doing.
How things have changed from when Darts Dominoes and cards were the norm in pubs.

Pub? Friends?

Nope, a quid in the bandit is about it.

Something I never see in pubs around here nowadays. When I was in my teens, there was a bunch of old boys that used to play cards on a Saturday afternoon, but as they died off, so did the card playing. Darts was a much bigger thing and we used to have the Truman brewery league, where we'd go by coach to other pubs and them to us.That died out too, and I don't see dart boards in pubs around here anymore either, despite the massive resurgence of dart popularity lately.

Most pubs round here are more pub/restaurants though and not the old community pubs they used to be. I think selling food is the only way for them to survive.

When I lived in Leeds early 20s liar dice was all the rage.

Over here see lots of families playing cards on the bar patios. Probably not for money

I enjoy a game of cards on a warm evening sat outside with a rum and coke on holiday, can't remember the last time I played cards in this country

Not in a pub, mainly because I don't go out often and when I do it's to chat with mates. At home I used to but not now for various reasons.

Go Johnny Go Go Go Go or Slippery Jack were my favourites.

Taipan wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 4:58 pm Most pubs round here are more pub/restaurants though and not the old community pubs they used to be. I think selling food is the only way for them to survive.

Yup - that. If the pub isn't within walking distance of the home then the vast majority of people aren't going to risk their licence just for a couple of beers.

I also suspect there's a lot more profit in food than drinks which is why most brewery owned pubs are now "gastro-pubs"

I do wonder if a pub setup in the middle of a large new-build would be successful or not. For every resident who wants a couple of beers on a couple of nights a week, there'll be at least one with the opposite view: that beer is sinful and "think of the kiddies!"

My nearest two pubs are now a BBQ smoked pit and a gastro pub so I joined the local working men's club in the next village. It's about £15 a year and about a 17 min walk out the back woods, which isn't too bad.

A pint is under a fiver, they have a monthly meat raffle, a couple of snooker tables, darts board, pool table, two one armed bandits (£500 jackpot) and a skittles alley.

People play cards and dominos, they have all the live sport on and it's actually got a sense of community that you used to get in pubs 20 years ago.

I used to play cribbage in my local back when I were younger !!!

Don't know anyone here that plays

But I do sometimes sit in a cafe-bar in resort and play backgammon, if the friend that taught me is over !!

I do miss cribbage - have to see if I can find anyone that plays when I get released!!

cheb wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 5:50 pm
Go Johnny Go Go Go Go or Slippery Jack were my favourites.

I never realised Johny go go was a real card came, thought it was just a comedy sketch on League of Gentleman.

Noggin wrote: Mon May 11, 2026 6:39 pm I used to play cribbage in my local back when I were younger !!!

I used to play crib with my Dad and brother when i was a kid , still enjoy playing it today.

Irish Snap after a few bevvies is both fun and painful.

Texas Hold ‘em once a month down the tap house. About 50 of us. I’ve been about 12 times …and won 9


The community point matters. We’re a community of hipsters that like ale and motorbikes but it’s still great to be part of it all.

Not cards because when I get pissed I can't remember any of the rules.
But in younger days at the boozer we would often play darts (mainly killer) and 'devil amongst the tailors' (because the auld pub we hung out in had one in the back bar).
And then often it would cuilminate on sunday afternoons with post-lunchtime-drinking football matches obn the village green.

My closest local has a regular darts league which seems popular. When the boards are free I'll play with my kids as they seem to enjoy playing for fun.

My other local has a Petanque team that plays other pubs/villages and there's a fair few older locals who gather for cards and dominos as well of an evening. Think that sort of things is more well established in villages than towns.

The other day my son told me how you play darts online now with twin camera set ups!

I haven't gone to a pub specifically for a drink since about 1976. I don't remember anyone ever playing cards back then.

No, but when I was 16 in 1983 I spent months playing cards when I was on a YTS scheme - there was feck all else to do.

This thread made me nostalgic for the 80’s and early 90’s when there was a real sense of community and we didn’t need phones or internet because everyone knew where you’d be from 7pm every night and the pub was the source of all knowledge.

I meet my mates in a pub when I’m back in the UK but it’s usually for lunch. I wouldn’t enjoy a night on the ale now as the hangovers are too much and I’m still a dickhead when I’m drunk and it’s not a good look in your 50’s.

We’ve got a great village pub in the UK, it’s the only building in the village older than our house and our place is 400yrs old. But the owner told me they only survive from food revenue, there is no money in drinks.

One group of my friends would regularly take cards and play Shit Head or Cheat, or take dice and play Mexico. Now that the group is smaller, we tend to play small board games, usually card-based.

Another friend and I habitually take a game called Hive with us to play. One other friend and I take a chessboard.