For those of you familiar with my blog there will be a question you will have been asking yourself ever since I started this short series of Thornton photographs : "when is he going to get to the pub?" Well, I think I have done quite well, because here I am, at Day 4 and I have only just arrived at the pub. And the sad thing is that it is closed. There are indeed still a good few pubs open in the village (I felt it incumbent on me to visit three or four in the interests of research) but I always feel that the closure of just one public house diminishes the sum total of happiness, conviviality and joy in the world.
If you climb up out of the centre of the village, up West Lane, you will need a stout constitution and by the time you reach the top of the hill you will deserve a bottle of stout - or two. For previous generations of walkers, the Sun Inn at the junction of West Lane and the somewhat spooky Wicken Lane has provided refreshments for the weary traveler. But alas, the inn sign no longer swings in the north-easterly breeze, the hand-pumps no longer dispense Waller' Nourishing Stout or Hammonds Ales, and the brittle click of bone dominoes no longer sends cats seeking the shelter of cellars.
The Sun Inn, Thornton rose every day for over one hundred years with the certainty of celestial clockwork. It made it into the twenty-first century: just. And then it closed and now it slowly fades into antiquity. I belong to a Flickr Group called The Dead Pubs Society and we share photos of pubs that were and are no more. I will add the Sun to our collection - and shed a tear as I do so.
This is the fourth part of the exploration of Thornton, West Yorkshire by Jennyfreckles and myself. We visited Thornton independently and used our cameras to record our own interpretation of the village. You can see how Jennyfreckles has approached the task by taking a look at her SALT AND LIGHT Blog.
Hello Alan:
ReplyDeleteThe closure of the Sun Inn is, we fear, a sign [no pun intended] of the times and is reflected up and down the country.
Mmmm - you could get a nice, new Wetherspoons on that site..... if you're unlucky...
ReplyDeleteAh, I didn't get as far as that. I trust that those steep steps weren't the main entrance to the pub! But I did think you'd probably find a pub eventually. Brilliant title - and writing, as always. There are some odd street and place names around the area, aren't there?
ReplyDeleteWritten like a true researcher.
ReplyDeleteLove the writing, Alan and the photo is very nice.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to get the word out to all blogger friends that I have a new birds blog. Since I was hacked I had to give up my old user name and the blogs that went with it.
So this is the new birds blog and I hope you can come visit. Birds Birds Birds and Birds
I'm always sad to see dead pubs too. It means more people drinking alone or not socialising with friends, fewer places to drop into ... sigh....
ReplyDeletePerhaps it was a slow day....or too spooky a road right?!! What ever the case ever, I just enjoy your take on things!
ReplyDeleteThe steps must have been a bit difficult to negotiate at the end of the evening. Sad that the Sun Inn is no more.
ReplyDeleteNow, there is a sad story.
ReplyDeleteInteresting old building. It' three story with an entrance on the second floor.
ReplyDeleteAlan; it is a bad and a sad sign when an old pub, which has been for generations around, has to close its door. What about the people who walked up there, had perhaps a nice lunch and a beer, meet other residents,where are they?
ReplyDeleteHow very sad....
ReplyDeleteThere are too many pubs closing!
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine it bustling with people. Is it that people don't drink enough?
ReplyDeleteYou sure do show a different slant on the same village. Jenny with the neat and tidy and you with the scruffy and the dead. It is sad that the building can't be brought alive again.
ReplyDeleteIt's always sad to see the demise of a building which has served the community so well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool building for a pub, though now deceased. Great writing here!
ReplyDeleteWell that's a sad story- I wonder what caused it's demise?
ReplyDeleteI was relieved to hear they were not all closed:)
ReplyDelete