Here’s a nostalgic look back to pub culture in the Seventies. Featuring 11 favourite icons of the pub, that some of you may even be old enough to remember.
1 Let’s smoke. Smoking was a sociable way of filling awkward silences. You could pick them up ‘in-store’ from a lovely wooden machine like this for 30p.
2 Money. Drinks were a lot cheaper back then. But no paying by phone nonsense, just hard cash from the wallet in your back pocket. Sometimes you’d have to break into a crisp £1 note.
3 Call the wife (invariably it was the wife) to say you’ll be home late. But, you’d usually have to find a local phone box and call from there.
4 Ended up with kids. Sometimes these would be outside, to keep the noisy buggers quiet. Bubble gum machines.
5 Fill them with pop. If the kids had to come inside, they’d drink one of these, and return the bottle to the bar for recycling. The days when Corona was something to look forward to…
6 Pub Food. There wasn’t the gastro delights we expect today. But if you covered your food in pretend Tomato Ketchup from one of these, you couldn’t tell the difference.
7 Games. If you wanted alone time, you could play on one of these. A basic, but fun fruit machine.
8 DIY Pub DJ. Or entertain the whole pub (whether they liked it or not) with one of these. Juke box in stereo playing the hits of the day on 7 inch vinyl.
9 Darts. This was taken really seriously, I mean really seriously. 1978 winner Leighton Rees was the one to beat, setting the standard for pub darts teams everywhere.
10 Tasty Snacks. The novelty Salt ‘n’ Shake crisps were a revolution in their day. Made by Smiths back then, not by Golden Wonder.
11 Beer. And let’s not forget the drinks. Virtually every beer had a lovely matching coaster to fiddle with at the table.
Credits: Pinterest, History of Advertising Trust, Seventies Time Machine, Beer Stained Pulp
Let’s not forget how much we love the pub. Check out the Lazystuff range of pub posters, coasters and mugs.
