Ye Olde White Horse, Spalding, Part 1

21st March 2014

We're back in business! After 8 months we are visiting pubs again. And this one looked promising.

I'd rang the pub and spoke to the landlady, Sam and she seemed very helpful and quite interested. I'd also contacted the local paper, The Spalding Guardian, hoping they could put me in touch with a local history society or historian but had had no reply. Still, we were travelling with loads of expectation especially as we were making a bit of a detour on the way there (more on that later).

We got to our hotel in Spalding about 4ish and, after checking in with the 70s throwback manager (three piece suit, kipper tie and "pancho" moustache), decided to have a pint seeing as they sold Stella. I'm glad Clint paid 'cos it was like gnats piss. We then went to our rooms and got ready for the big night (we hoped).

My GNATS PISS STELLA face

When we eventually arrived we checked in at our hotel which had the creepiest manager ever, laughing at the most trivial things we said, which made me uncomfortable. Maybe he felt the need to be over-friendly due to his position, but i think we all just want people to be genuine.

After a quick splash o' Brut we headed off for Ye Olde White Horse which, according to Google, was across the canal and down a bit. About a 10 or 15 minute walk which gave us a chance to see a bit of Spalding on the water......... and it's very nice though there are some exceedingly small front doors on the buildings. Anyone know why? Anyway, I got some nice pictures and enjoyed the walk.

Even Dad'd have to duck and he's only 5' 5"

Dinner?

Sure enough, down a bit and across a bridge and there it was, Ye Olde White Horse.

We'd arrived!

It's a very pretty building. I mean, who doesn't like a thatched roof?

Fire insurance companies?

All right, smart arse! We took a couple of pictures and crossed the threshold.

Usual pic of me outside the pub

There were quite a few people in, which is good to see at 5 o'clock, and I made my way further in as the bar area was pretty well occupied. You go up a couple of steps and there is more bar and here there was room to get in and as we approached the bar a woman behind said " Hi, we saw you were on your way. We saw the picture you posted on Facebook!"

This was brilliant!! They'd been interested enough to watch our Facebook page and were expecting us. The lady I was talking to was Sam, the landlady and we were quickly joined by Terri, her barmaid. Terri wanted to see the cigarette cards straight away so after I'd ordered a beer I handed them over and then Sam took me on a quick tour of the pub and Clint went off with Terri into the main bar area.

Clint, Terri, Sam and yours truly

Sam showed me where the original pub ended and the new bit began and showed me all the old photos on the wall and the history behind them as we walked through the lounge and back to the bar where we came in. There we found Clint talking to Terri and an older guy who was sat on a bar stool in the corner. Clint introduced him to me as "Squeak"!

We were off to a flyer! Not only did this seem like a good watering hole, but also, when Dad had contacted them, they were genuinely interested! To the point they had read the blog and recognised us! Well… dad anyway... The landlady was called Sam, and although she had a pub full of paying customers, she immediately took dad on a tour around the pub, and left me at the bar… but after a couple of minutes, the barmaid, Terri, came over for a chat. Sam had told her about our tour, and she wanted to see the cards. She showed them around the pub and before long I was stood next to an old boy discussing the pub. They called him Squeak, I forgot to ask why, and I forgot to ask his real name. But if I’m honest, whatever his real name was, I will forever call him Squeak. 

Terri

So I took root next to Squeak, and Dad came back and we stood talking for the rest of the night. Squeak had lots of old knowledge about Spalding, as he had lived there all his life. He told us a tale about a young woman who was listed as “stolen” from a pub in Spalding and shipped to Australia in the 1800’s, and the pub in question was called The Elephant and Castle. The twist in the tale is that no one can remember, or find any reference to, the Elephant and Castle ever being in Spalding. We had a little Google search on me Google phone (which I am beginning to fall out with!) but came up empty handed. I've had another quick look online since, but with no joy. Any info from anyone out there would be much appreciated, as I’m sure we could get it back to Squeak…

So, as we chatted to Squeak, we had another beer, and another beer,,,,,,,,,,,,,and another beer,,,,,,,,,,,,,ad infinitum. Because it was bloody lovely! It was Samuel Smiths Pure Brewed Organic Lager and I would recommend it to anyone (although I perhaps wouldn't recommend drinking as much as we did).

Well, that's enough for now. Part 2 coming soon, Cheers!!