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Your first pint/cherryB/gin & it/etc (delete as applicable)

el-stano

el-stano

Ex-lurker
Can you recall the date (roughly), place and circumstances of your first drink in licenced premises? Suppose this ought to be in Brum only, but I don't make the rules...

Mine was in about 1964. I had a Saturday job in the menswear dept of Henry's Stores, a horrible down-market place, somewhere in Deritend, I think. The full-time blokes took me to the Old Crown at lunchtime. I didn't know what to have, so I copied someone else and had a Sam Brown, about 1s 4d. We all had bread and cheese with allegedly home-pickled onions, about another 1s 6d. When you add in bus fares from/to Ward End, paper, coffe breaks and cigs, there wasn't much left out of the £1 wage for the day. Anyway, it didn't last long: I was so bored standing about half the time and folding up all the clothes that the customers left in heaps everywhere the other half that I took a tranny in and an earpice but got spotted by the store manager - bye-bye job! At least it cured me of any ambition to work in public-facing jobs ever again.

So come on, you must have more interesting stories than that.

[BRAWimmin: whatever you are, please be kind to an new old codger]
 
On my 18th Birthday, my Dad took me to the local pub, The Coach and Horses on the Bordesley Green, At the time it was run by Dick Rafferty.
We walked into the pub and my Dad said " leave this to me, I'll show you how to order a pint "
Dick Rafferty looked up from what he was doing, took one look at me and said "Usual, Jimmy ?"
I had been a regular in there for over 2 years, my Dad just laughed and told me to get 'em in. lol
 
Mine was when I was a bridesmaid to Betty my next door neighbour at her reception. Can't remember the name of the pub but it was by the Serpentine ground in the road of that name. It was a pink lady followed by [a few] babychamps. I was sixteen years of age and it must have had some affect as I got up with the group and sang Michael row the boat ashore. Jean.
 
The night that I finished 5th Year in 1968 aged 16. My dad took me to his local pub (The Paddock) opposite the Aston Hippodrome, offered me a Park Drive (which I declined) and treated me to a couple of Brown & Mild's.

Thank you Dad for that special memory, I wish you was still alive so that I could return the pleasure.................. :) Mabz
 
California Pub bought my first pint ( I was 16) of ansells best mild over the counter had been going there since i was a kid with me Dad but that was the first over the counter drink and they knew how old I was:D I wonder if thats why I dont drink now ? The Ansells mild:D
 
Oh posh one Tom my husband used to brew the stuff and it will never be the same again since the brewery closed. Different water. He was a sampler there and stopped drinking for a while as he became sick of the stuff. Pete's first drink was an Ansells mild with his dad at the Guild. Jean.
 
I think we had a thread on this subject quite a while ago. It's good to see some new "first drink" posts again. Mine was on my l8th birthday at the Bowling Alley at Wylde Green. Used to be the site of the Pavilion cinema.
They had a small club you could join which was upstairs. My drink was Rum and Peppermint which I still like. Haven't had one for a while though.
 
My first was a gin and bitter lemon at The Swan in Fradley when I was 16 thought it was great that I passed for 18. But I've always had a question and maybe someone can till me, What was the ( It ) in gin & it.
 
Topsy: Smashing pub years ago The Swan at Fradley. Great location. The "It" would have been Italian Vermouth. My husband and I had this conversation last week since I told him that years ago mostly on special occasions women drank "Gin and It". He wasn't sure what I had actually said.

I know as kids we wondered what it was as we (my brother and I) thought that it was called "Gin and Nit"...the mind boggles.:)
 
Thanks jennyann,
I was always to chicken to try it but now I will as a have some vermouth in the cupboard, I hope it's the right kind.
I visited The Swan last year with my daughter as she had to see where I had my first drink, I didn't think it had changed much from what I can remember.
 
Pub near Handsworth Technical college on a Tuesday lunchtime 1962. Used to play darts, drink brown and mild and eat cheese cobs. When we returned to classes in the afternoon fell asleep. Never did get my City and Guilds.
 
The Swan is lovely we sometimes meet up with family for the Carvery on Sundays.:)
 
Can't remember I was drunk at the time:rolleyes:

But I remember the ceiling spinning:cool::dft005:
 
Are the good old days Alf, bet you can't do it now, I know I can't get week kneed with 1 glass of wine.
 
Oh God, don't mention Cherry B! Got horribly drunk on that stuff long ago and, even now, can't drink anything that looks, smells or tastes like it!
 
Solihull ice rink bar. It was almost completely patronised by the underaged, there was 2 doors into it and if the police were to come into the rink the D.J. would say, "welcome to our friendly local policeman", to which the bar would almost empty through the far door, by the time they got into the bar there would be hardly anyone in but unfinished drinks on the tables, happy days.
 
I think my first drink (apart from experimental ciders and beer my mum used to make and nobody fancied) was three months before my 18th birthday with my dad and other older men at the Bell in Belbroughton. The occasion was a 'choir supper' for the adult singers at St Michael's Church Handsworth, where my dad was organist then, and I had started in the choir almost a year previously, singing the bass line to start with.

I remember we were driven there by the deputy organist and you might say 'principal bass' in his tiny pre-war Morris 8, a month or two after he bought it and passed his driving test. I believe I had a cider or two (my dad would never drink beer), but I do remember ordering a mixed grill for main course, and I can of course recall the return journey in the dark with almost the same accuracy, albeit with an aura, you might call it.

I was a student at the School of Architecture in Margaret Street at the time, and my next opportunity was just after my 18th birthday in July, when the first year ended with a visit to Oxford for a week, staying in Hertford College. We ate in the college canteen (sorry, refectory) where bottled beers were served without challenge. There I learned about red bass, which in those days was a fabulous drink, still fermenting in the bottle, with loads of flavour, but you didn't pour the sediment, if you wanted an uninterrupted night. Worthington's White Shield was their equivalent, which was still marketed until about 2000, although it was 'improved' in later years, and put in a new poncy style of bottle.

Changing the subject and going somewhat off-topic, my last drink was a Palmer's Bitter, from Bridport, Dorset. This is to my mind an ideal session beer. Last but one was a small side-salad of Dark Star 'Six Grains', at 6.5 abv - not suitable in quantity for those in their later 70s. The venue is but two tram stops away, with good company, getting to know nice people better. I had a most enjoyable evening, and it's now time to wish everybody good night.
Peter
 
It,s a toss up between The Greenwood Tree on Primrose Hill estate or The Gladiator on Druids Heath. Wherever it was it would have been a pint of mild..Pure nectar!!!!
 
couldnt use my local that was opposite our house as mom and dad were to well known...so it would be the longboat 1969...:rolleyes:..lager

astoness
 
Patty you've changed your taste since then. I still love the babychamp but with a shot of brandy. Jean.
 
My first drink was a lager shady as i was not brave enough to ask for anything else, and the next round my boyfriend bought me a Barcardi and coke and it lasted all night as i was to young to be in the pub i was scared of getting drunk (haha) Mind you he perservered as we are still together 37 years later.
 
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