An occasional music spot - remembering places around the World

      ' V I L L A G E '  P U B  C R A W L

[Above] - Is a picture I took of a poster in the Fox & Grapes pub - it shows 8 pubs in Wimbledon Village and is entitled 'Oliver Reed's Wimbledon Eight'. Here's a link to a bigger image to view > 'The Dog & Fox'; 'Rose & Crown'; 'Fox & Grapes'; 'Hand in Hand'; 'Crooked Billet'; 'The Swan'; 'King of Denmark' & 'The Brewery Tap'.

Link to the Oliver Reed story here >

Now back in the days of Ollie Reed and also the Merton Park football boys annual Christmas Drink it was actually 9 pubs and would begin in 'The Castle' and work its merry way round in a decidedly drunken clockwise direction ending in the 'Rose & Crown'. 

Notes for those historians out there: 'The Castle' closed 2000, became 'The Fire Stables' which is now more a bar/kitchen than a pub. 'The King of Denmark' closed in 2007 and was demolished in 2011 while 'The Brewery Tap' closed in 2011. So now it's only 6 pubs in total. 

Here's a 9-minute video from 2008 of a guy 'doing' the Wimbledon 8: travelling anti clockwise round the village - "pint of lager please" >

All this had me remembering the 'Rose and Crown' nights when musicians turning up and played in the 'old' public bar, the music was impromptu and everyone had a right good time.  

Reminiscent of many Irish pubs and much like this clip from the 'Transatlantic Sessions' recorded by the BBC (and re-run recently on BBC4). 

Here then from 1995 is 'Far From Home / [and at the 45sec mark] Big John McNeil'

The band comprises of Martyn Bennett (fiddle), Jerry Douglas, Danny Thompson, Phil Cunningham (accordion), Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (fiddle), Molly Mason, Michael McGoldrick (flute) and of course Aly Bain & Jay Ungar (more fiddles) 

I discovered a Spin off due to Oliver Reed moving to Carshalton in the 80s - as there's also a 'Carshalton 9' Pub Crawl poster. 

Cheers 🎶