Aviation Pubs

[Capetonian]

The Pantiles in Aldershot or Farnham where Douglas Bader met his wife. Does anyone know what happened to that?

There was also a pub called the Pantiles on the North Circular Road/A406 near the Welsh Harp. One of my school teachers told me that it also had a connection with Douglas Bader but I believe that to be incorrect - like much of what I was taught at school (for a start I haven't gone blind!)

[gruntie]

AFAIK the "Bader" Pantiles was on the A30 at Bagshot. "Was" as I think it was flattened within the last 5 years and a retirement home built on the site.
Additionally I think the relevant scenes in the film were shot "on location" there.

[johnwilli]

Pub used during the Battle of Britain by pilots stationed at Hawkinge, Kent.

Cat and Custard Pot Web-site

[johnbunting]

I seem to remember a pub at or near Calshot, which had some photos and maybe other memorabilia of the Schneider Trophy races. Anyone know its name?

[IslandPilot]

Airport House, the terminal building of the old Croydon Airport, houses the Rayon d' Or bar and restaurant, called after Air Union's luxury service between Croydon and Le Bourget which began in 1927 and continued in to the 1930's, a historic site indeed which displays memorabilia of the period.

The bar of the adjacent Aerodrome Hotel is sited in the area where the old Pilot's Room used to be, frequented by Imperial Airways crews and Airport staff coming off duty.

Across the Purley Way is the modern but appropriately named Gypsy Moth pub. Up Purley Way towards the Fiveways junctions there used to be a pub called "The Propellor", now unfortunately demolished.

[merlinxx]

IslandPilot

I'll let Treaders hold forth on the Gypsy Moth pub. Tis full of "Sarf Lunun Pikeys" And -XL needs a paint job

[IslandPilot]

Looks alright from the outside, no experience of the clientel though - prefer the Airport!

[XV490]

Delighted to see this thread has been woken up again.

Prize for the most understated nod to its wartime watering-hole status has to go to The Fox at Matching Tye (two miles from Striped Shirt) in Essex - a single US Ninth Air Force horse brass (and try saying that after a pint or six).

[treadigraph]

I'll let Treaders hold forth on the Gypsy Moth

Yes, I well recall we three sitting outside the Gipsy Moth awaiting the Tiger Club's tribute to 50 years of Croydon Closure two years ago - there was a Welshman, a Scotsman and a Cornishman...

I never went to the Propellor, can't imagine it was terribly salubrious in its waining years.

AFAIK the "Bader" Pantiles was on the A30 at Bagshot

I believe that was indeed the case.

[TheChitterneFlyer]

I seem to remember a pub at or near Calshot, which had some photos and maybe other memorabilia of the Schneider Trophy races. Anyone know its name?

The Flying Boat... indeed, there used to be many photos on the walls from days of old. I believe the pub is now closed.

[XV490]

I believe the pub is now closed.

A maxim for modern times.

I for one can't afford a pint of bitter priced upwards of £3 - not for a session. Can someone work out for me the inflation on a pub pint since I first started imbibing in earnest in the early seventies?

[merlinxx]

Well Treaders

We nearly had a full set of Celts, and yes I've a Welsh & Cornish flag

Shame I'll not be at the Stage Door next Sat, shall be on the tear on the Sussex coast's finest little aerodrome

Meet soon Old Chap.

[IslandPilot]

[QUOTE]And -XL needs a paint job

It's looking very fresh now

[GQ2]

.....that reminds me.....

.......I'm glad this thread has come back to life too. Pubs seem to be closing at a prodigious rate....Some years ago, JEJ recommended I try a pub in Saffron Walden as it was a well-known old pilots 'Better Ole'. Sadly, most of the aviation memorabilia had gone and the staff didn't seem to know diddly. In about 1980/'81, I was driving near Coventry, and came across a boozer with an old a/c outside...an Auster as I recall. I think that it was called The Blue Lias, because I remember that I has to look-up what a Lias is/was... Anyway, it was jam-packed with photos all over the walls of wartime RAF aircrew. Sadly, it had just closed, as I think the owner had just passed-away, so I never got to see the full story. Does anyone remember the background to that one...?
Not exactly an aviation themed pub, but.... There is a whole village in Devonshire called 'Pathfinder Village', near Cheriton Bishop. The guy who built the village was....of course, an old Pathfinder pilot. I think that he passed-away some years ago now.
I know that many ex-aircrew tried their hands in the licenced-trade after the war...some rapidly went back to flying too...!

[gobfa]

GQ2 is this the one ?

The Blue Lias Inn

Can't remember seeing any aviation photos last time I was in there

[treadigraph]

GQ2, that set a faint bell tinkling in the memory that one of the surviving Taylorcraft Plus Ds lived outside a Midlands pub many years ago.

[GQ2]

The Blue Lias.

Gobfa;- It's not on my normal parish, and a long time ago...but I think it must be the right place with such an unusual name. Looking on our old friend Google Earth...the a/c was behind where that tall Leylandi hedge is now. Life is full of these little missed opportunities. If only I'd have fund out about it a few years earlier......ho-hum...
Just found a Link that mentions a Jet being there..here;-http://www.lpmcc.net/rallies/rally_clover.htm
...and a Link to a discussion on another forum in 2007;-http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/archive/index.php?t-67176.html
The Landlord was Wg Cdr 'Sandy' Powell, a retired Test Pilot - I think he has been dead for at least 25yrs, so sounds correct. He published a book;-Powell, Wg Cdr "Sandy" TEST FLIGHT - £15.00
Wingate 1st, 1956; 212pp, 26 photos;.; nr fine, good d/w. Test flying in the 1950's, partly the author's experiences & partly descriptive of the testing function and other test pilots' roles.
BN: 22635

GQ2.

[GQ2]

..more info'...

More here;-
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...lots-pubs.html
...and here..;-
WWII Aviation Pubs - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

.........a lot seem to have either closed, been knocked-down, or made into a bland 'orrible chain/clone eatery. Gaaarrgghhh......

[cvt person]

The Blue Lias is in Long Itchington on the Stockton road alongside the canal. Many years since I've been there but it certainly was full of aviation photos. Do not remember an Auster but there was certainly a vampire in the car park for a number of years.

[evansb]

PILOT Tavern at Younge & Bloor, Toronto, Ontario. Est. 1944 and still in business. Relocated to Cumberland St, just north of the original location.