Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: big 1st serve on July 09, 2010, 09:58:35 AM
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As I drove past the other day, still cant believe its not been re-developed
or been turned into a Lidil /Aldi / Netto .
But it always brings a smile to my face when I reminisce about times spent
there Ansells bitter 32p a pint ! circa 1976 ! the proper stuff brewed at Aston Cross, not the stuff brewed at Burton.
It was here that I learned such a wide range of songs,/
chants;
As I walked out on the steps of the Holte End,
Holte enders in the Sky, both verses!!
Theres a football team, thats for me and you, come from Villa park, Play in Claret & Blue,
The 12 days of Xmas,
etc , etc,
Does anyone remember the postponed game with Newcastle, circa 1976,
game called off , as pitch was frozen, however this was a late postponement, & @20 Newcastle fans came in the Tavern for a drink or two
A good time was had by all, resulting in a improvised game of footy in Aston park, with West Midlands finest watching on!!
Happy Days !
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I'm pretty sure this is the first pub as a 6 year old that my dear old Dad took me to when we were going to my first match and subsequent matches.
My Dad and his brothers would leave me and my cousins outside while they crashed a few down their necks.
That must have been around Christmas 1969/70.
UTV
The Doc
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A great pre-match boozer. We can only hope that one day it can be resurrected. I think post match Tranmere in '94 was the high point for me.
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Yeah, always was my favourite pre-match boozer as a youngster.
A great shame to see it languish - but then, there are loads of pubs going under nowadays; 9 closures a day at the moment according to a guy on the radio a couple of days' ago.
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I used to live in Aston Hall Road and this was the one of the first boozers i used when i reached the legal drinking age. Shame it closed someone mentioning this has bought back a few happy memories.
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The Aston Tavern when I first started going down in 88.
Then a guy I worked with at VP suggested we start drinking in the Upper Grounds as it was closer.
I still shiver thinking about that place - colloquially known as the rat pan - NICE
They even gave us 'honourary memberships' because we worked on the gates.
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The first pre-match pub my old man took me too as well. Great old place. I have childhood recollections of that huge fireplace which would probably be outlawed these days by someone wearing a H&S jacket.
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Used to catch the 6.50 from Bournemouth, and when we got to Aston, made a beeline for the Tavern.
It was my first pre-match pub, and will always be my favourite. Was always a great atmosphere before the big games.
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big1stserve wrote:Does anyone remember the postponed game with Newcastle, circa 1976,
game called off , as pitch was frozen, however this was a late postponement, & @20 Newcastle fans came in the Tavern for a drink or two
We used to use the place regularly around that time. It was the pre-match watering hole for the Dougall mob who had a fantastic repertoire of songs. I remember a game against Newcastle in 76, ( it was actually the Saturday after we had beaten Liverpool 5-1 so it sticks in my memory), when a few Geordies came in and sung a song about Newcastle brown Ale based on "I'll never fall in love again".Most of them were ok apart from 1 red faced skinhead who looked like Biffa Bacon, he tried to wind a few people up but no-one took any notice of him. Game wasnt postponed though as far as I remember. I'm pretty sure we beat them 1-0 in a bit of a dull game. Good 1st post mate, bought back memories!
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big1stserve wrote:Does anyone remember the postponed game with Newcastle, circa 1976,
game called off , as pitch was frozen, however this was a late postponement, & @20 Newcastle fans came in the Tavern for a drink or two
We used to use the place regularly around that time. It was the pre-match watering hole for the Dougall mob who had a fantastic repertoire of songs. I remember a game against Newcastle in 76, ( it was actually the Saturday after we had beaten Liverpool 5-1 so it sticks in my memory), when a few Geordies came in and sung a song about Newcastle brown Ale based on "I'll never fall in love again".Most of them were ok apart from 1 red faced skinhead who looked like Biffa Bacon, he tried to wind a few people up but no-one took any notice of him. Game wasnt postponed though as far as I remember. I'm pretty sure we beat them 1-0 in a bit of a dull game. Good 1st post mate, bought back memories!
I first started using the Tavern in,75
& remember blokes handing out song sheets with
such well penned dittys as,
Willie Bell on a mountain glen, seduced himself with
a fountain pen......
& various other odes to the Dark Side,
great atmosphere, topped off by the bloke who always jumped on to a table, singing, Mule Train,
whilst smacking a drinks tray over his head.
Somehow its not quite the same in the Bartons...
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Do you remember the old fella with the red nose who used to sing ' Come down any old time'?
Mule Train yep, it all comes flooding back! How old were you then mate? I'm sure I would have known you as we were regulars at that time.
A song I vaguely remember, usually sung just before we left for the game against the shit ended, ' Get down on your knees and grunt you dirty city c#nt, 'cause today the Villa beat the bluenosed bastards'... anyone fill in the gaps for that one?
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Good Thread.
On my rare visits to VP it's always sad to se the A.T. derelict & ignored.
"A little piece of heaven fell out' the sky one day
It nestled down in Aston so football they could play
They built a church next to it & the Aston Tavern too
Where they serve old Ansells Mild our Brummie's favourite brew
And then they built the terraces, and the floodlights for the dark
And when they had it finished- sure they called in Villa Park!
............ We're the Villa, we're the Villa, we are the Champions.....
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Do you remember the old fella with the red nose who used to sing ' Come down any old time'?
Mule Train yep, it all comes flooding back! How old were you then mate? I'm sure I would have known you as we were regulars at that time.
A song I vaguely remember, usually sung just before we left for the game against the shit ended, ' Get down on your knees and grunt you dirty city c#nt, 'cause today the Villa beat the bluenosed bastards'... anyone fill in the gaps for that one?
Glad you remembered Mule Train, at first I thought I,d imagined it thru,
an Ansells induced haze,
I was @ 17 when I first started using the Tavern,
cant help with the " Get down on your Knees ditty"
but remember a nice little rendering to the Wizard of Oz, Havent got a brain;
Oh my name is Kenny Burns,and i have these funny turns,oh it really is a shame.
How I,d love to play for Villa ,that would be a real Thrilla, but I,havent got a brain.
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Does anyone know who owns the site??
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or any pictures
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We're just one of those teams that you get now and then,
We let you score one then we go and score ten...
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Back in the day the range of songs was something else compared with the
few we seem to use to day,
I seem to remember Were just one of those teams.... always ended in a
giant knees - up in the lounge,
Do you remember;
Oh we love Aston Villa ,& we hate West Brom,
But most of all we hate Birmingham,
And we,ll hang all the City fans one by one
from the roof of the mighty Holte End,
Good old 70,s banter!!!
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Come down any old time
Down to Villa Park
The Board of Directors will show you around
In Witton they're saying we're Wemb-a-lee bound
'Cause we're steeped in tradition are we
Seven times we've won the cup
So come on you fans, from terrace or stand
Sing "Villa for the Cup"*
*or "Up Villa Up"
(I'd have hoped line 6 would have been out of date by now but sadly.....)
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Bernie God bless ya, must be as old as big 1st and me! Yep, remember the hang 'em from the roof too. You know I'm not sure it's rose coloured memories or not but I wouldnt swap them!
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Bernie God bless ya, must be as old as big 1st and me! Yep, remember the hang 'em from the roof too. You know I'm not sure it's rose coloured memories or not but I wouldnt swap them!
Spot on Willy,
I was watching a Match of the Day compilation from the 70,s the other day
& when they showed the Bournemouth match from 72, the crowd noise was something else, & still gets the hairs up on the back of my neck.
In fact I insisted that my 19 year old Villa supporting son sit & watch what a proper atmosphere was like.
When I need an extra nostalgia shot I get my copy of Terry Weirs photographs,"The Weir & the Wonderful" & try to spot myself on the pitch against Sunderland when we got promoted in 75
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Bernie God bless ya, must be as old as big 1st and me! Yep, remember the hang 'em from the roof too. You know I'm not sure it's rose coloured memories or not but I wouldnt swap them!
"Mature" is the word, WW.........................
As you suggest it doesn't really matter whether the memories are rose-tinted, as long as we enjoy the remembering- and now a few of those songs are going round in my head!