A revisit to Southsea on a lovely sunny day

A mini pub games crawl at the seaside.

After our visit to the new Minigolf course at Basingstoke Golf Centre Emily and I decided to make the most of the lovely sunny day by heading 45 minutes down the road to one of our favourite seasides – Southsea.

Outside the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea

We had a nice wander around the town and seafront, headed to the amusement arcades for some rattin’ and tattin’ and also had a quick look at the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course (location of the genesis of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour). Having played a fair bit of minigolf already during the day we decided not to play anymore, but instead grab some food and head to a few pubs.

Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea

Ahead of meeting up with my brother who lives in the town we went to the Barley Mow pub to check out the pub games they have on offer. The pub has some great signage on the wall outside advertising their games.

Pub games sign at the Barley Mow

We found a Bar Billiards table in the lounge bar, with a Pool table and Dartboard in the games room next door. The pub also has a nice little Patio/Beer Garden.

The Barley Mow's Bar Billiards table

In our game of Bar Billiards at the Barley Mow Emily and I tied on zero points when I wiped-out my 750 points on the black peg shoot-out.

The table was in great condition and very tricky too. There were also three posters detailing the rules of the game – one of which called it ‘Pokey Pokey’! On this rulesheet it called the pegs 'soldiers'! This is the first time I've seen the pegs on the table called this - they do look a bit like people with their arms outstretched. I haven't seen the game called 'Pokey Pokey' before either. I wonder what the origin of the name is?

The Barley Mow also had a sign-up sheet calling for people to join the pub team to take on others from The Eldon Arms, the White Horse and the King Street Tavern. We’ll definitely be heading back to the Barley Mow for a few drinks on our next visit to Southsea; it’s a great spot to spend some time and is just a short walk away from the seafront.

I line-up a shot

Emily playing Bar Billiards at the Barley Mow

The Simplified Rules of 'Pokey Pokey'!

Some of the signage at the Barley Mow

The Dartboard at the Barley Mow

After having a quick throw of some darts our next stop was to The White Horse. The Bar Billiards table here was the first one I never laid my eyes on when we had previously had a meal there. At that point I had no idea what the game was and it is only since watching Indoor League on DVD that I got bitten by the Bar Billiards Bug!

The Bar Billiards table at The White Horse pub

In our match Emily picked up a win 610 to 590 in an incredibly close game, which was finished when Emily scored 50, 30 and 30 with her last shot!

Emily makes a break

After the game at The White Horse we met up with my brother and headed to the King Street Tavern, only to find that they no longer have a Bar Billiards table. The pub did look nice enough and there was a selection of games on the bar and some local history books available for customers to read. As an aside, one of the books was 'Is Britain Great? 2' by the team at The Caravan Gallery based in the town - the book is well worth a look and includes a photo of the old Mushroom Hut on the now demolished Crazy Golf course at Felixstowe. We’ll head back to the pub for a pint there next time we’re in town.

The final stop on our mini-pub crawl on the Barmy Bar Billiards Trail in Southsea was to The Eldon Arms, the next pub along from the King Street Tavern. Here we found the Bar Billiards table to the left of the bar and in an area next to the Pool table and a dartboard. On Sundays the pub has free play Pool so that table was very busy.

The Bar Billiards table at The Eldon Arms

In me and Emily’s final match of our best-of-three series in Southsea I picked up a win 1,350 to 330 – my highest score to date. I managed to hit the 100 hole in the sudden-death shootout. This did however mean that our Southsea match ended at one win apiece, with the other match a draw. A re-match is on the cards next time we head to Southsea!

Christopher watches Emily playing Bar Billiards

Emily making a sudden-death shot

The final game of Bar Billiards saw me introduce Christopher to the game. He took to it like a duck to water and defeated me 840 to 710 in a close match that went the distance. In the sudden-death shootout he hit the 100 hole with a white ball to take the win. We also chatted to a few of the punters who were watching us play and explained the rules of Bar Billiards to them, they seemed intrigued by the game and thought it sounded more fun than Pool. It's a shame the pub didn't have a rulesheet available to let interested people know how to play the game. 

Christopher playing his first game of Bar Billiards

All in all a great finish to a long day out of fun and games in Basingstoke and Southsea!

Links and Related Blog Posts:

- Bar Billiards Blog Posts
- Minigolf Revisit - Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea - Five Years Later...
- Five years on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- From the Vault - Southsea Minigolf 2006
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- The Barley Mow
- All England Bar Billiards Association