As a drinking nation, what is the greatest piece of pub related tat you have acquired?

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TheFloatingCamel@reddit

This is a beer cosy I got in Australia about 18 years ago when i lived there for a year. It’s great for stopping your drink getting warm from your hands. It’s basically an Ugg boot for a beer. I love this thing.

I also have a Jim beam one that’s actually a drinking mitt…but I don’t know where that is at the moment.

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Flimflamsam@reddit

Commonly used over here in Canada. After I moved here, it was one of those things you get when places give away swag at events and such too.

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Flimflamsam@reddit

Almost got a cigarette machine out the door of a place one night. Ended up sacking it off, but got a load of towels and a very nice Tetleys ashtray (dock off blue one, gorgeous it is)

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Siggi_Starduust@reddit

A few vintage Tennents ‘Lager Lovelies’ cans

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Siggi_Starduust@reddit

Also this large insulated 600ml beer glass I swiped from a bar in Lisbon

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super-fire-pony@reddit

Rescued an original Carling Black Label pump base and repurposed it into a table lamp. Weirdly, Carling has just rereleased Black Label with very similar branding to the original.

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Branchy28@reddit

Is Black Label actually available in the UK!? I'm Scottish by birth but I was raised and lived in South Africa for most of my life (Where Black Label is the national beer of choice) and I'd love to buy some if it's available somewhere here! I've never seen it anywhere.

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Siggi_Starduust@reddit

Carling Black Label is full of surprises - I only learned in the last couple of years that it’s originally a Canadian beer.

Growing up in Scotland in the 90’s it was absolutely everywhere ‘South of the Border’ and their sponsorship of the Premiership and ‘Dambusters’ advertising campaigns made me assume they were the English equivalent of Tennents- the go-to, no frills national lager.

The South African connection is a new one however, Having flown through Jo’burg airport a lot back in the 00’s and working in nearby Angola, I’d never come across it. It always seemed to be Castle lager or imported beers like Super Bock and Heineken that we got.

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poopio@reddit

A mate of mine turned up with 10 cans of it last weekend. My understanding is that it was acquired from Morrisons.

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Branchy28@reddit

Did some digging and apparently Black Label in South Africa and Black Label in the UK are completely different, I edited my comment with more info.

I didn't realize Carling used the same label and marketing for 2 completely different products across continents 😅

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poopio@reddit

Strangely, I was reading up on it the other day when he turned up with the stuff. Apparently it was also quite big in America as well.

I guess over the years each brewery has just modified the recipe to reflect whatever's cheaper - it happens with plenty of other beers too. The stuff they're selling over here at the moment, is basically a "premium" version of normal Carling - i.e. it's Carling with a little bit more alcohol in it. It wasn't unpleasant, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it.

The same guy also turned up with 4 cans of Double Diamond the other week - which is another 70s/80s throwback that's recently been re-released. The Black Label, apparently he bought 30 cans of it, which is quite trusting, given their ordinary offering.

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Branchy28@reddit

Crazy! I never even knew "Black Label" was a thing outside of South Africa/SAB (South African Breweries)

Honestly I might still go out of my way to buy the UK version and find a South African shop that might be able to import the SA version for cheap so me and some friends can compare them side by side together 😛

Black Label in South Africa is like Greggs sausage rolls here in the UK, it's a staple of our culture and we're proud of it!

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Queasy-Ad-18706@reddit

Carling is sold virtually everywhere.

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Branchy28@reddit

I looked into it and saw Morrisons sells "Carling Black label" in cans but it's not the same stuff unfortunately 😅

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RadicalRex2@reddit

I have a brugge zot jester hat that I got because the pub 8 work at was meant to have brugge zot on tap then changed to la chouffe last second so we got all the merch but never got the beer, so it was given away to the staff.

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1whoisconcerned@reddit

Me wife

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Ashamed_Length_2436@reddit

all 220kgs of her

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Lower_Kaleidoscope_3@reddit

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you_aint_seen_me-@reddit

Came to say the same. That said, I have a behemoth of a Green king ashtray in the garage.

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mbgameshw@reddit

And me. The Cricketers have a lot to answer for. And it’s all good. Bagged my bar wench as soon as I saw her.

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eerst@reddit

Which Cricketers? Might be the same wife as mine.

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jingleson@reddit

I choose this guy's wife aswelly

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Lynex_Lineker_Smith@reddit

It’s an older code sir , but it checks out

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maxcain1997@reddit (OP)

Strangely enough, that is the same answer my dad gave.

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Appropriate-Row4534@reddit

It only counts if it's something you stole though

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Practical-Story-802@reddit

I have my grandads collection of pewter tankards lined up ontop of my kitchen cupboards

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Vequihellin@reddit

In the loft, my parents have 2 painted pub mirrors. One is for Martini with the full crest and everything, I'm not sure what the other one is for. Possibly Southern Comfort or one of the Gin brands? Maybe Gordons or Beefeater? I've not seen the 2nd one for many years so I can't fully remember it. The Martini one was up in their conservatory until relatively recently so that one I am certain of.

They are actually quite distinctive pieces and as pub-related tat goes, they are kinda classic. I think my dad is very attached to the Martini one. I'm not sure why. He's not a big drinker and I've never known him to actually drink martini himself.

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poopio@reddit

Does nicking a johnny machine count?

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zephyrg@reddit

What's the story behind this one then?

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poopio@reddit

A local establishment which shall remain nameless (although I'd wager some of the old staff of the time are probably in here and know who I am) was having a refurb and I was told in very rough terms that I could take pretty much anything I wanted except for things like TVs, pool tables, booze, etc. so what I thought I'd do was go on Amazon and order a crowbar directly to the bar, so they knew I was upto something, but they didn't know what. Looking back, they probably just meant stuff like pint glasses or maybe if I could get a beer pump off the bar...

I helped them with moving some other stuff, moving TVs, etc. and then disappeared off to the gents, and came back about 20 minutes later with the condom machine.

The problem was that for years, nobody had actually had a key for the machine, so as far as they knew, nobody had emptied it for years, and with it being one of those things where you buy them out of a machine in the bogs, they figured that anyone who had put money in there and it hadn't worked, for the sake of £2, were likely too embarassed to go upto the bar and ask for their money back, so the staff thought they were paying for their Christmas do with the proceeds and ripped the machine to bits with the crowbar. There wasn't a penny in it. Just out of date condoms and knock off viagra, so they surmised that someone must've been emptying them after all without anybody knowing, so they let me go into the women's and pilfer the one out of there... and that's how I ended up with the condom machine out of the women's toilets.

Amusingly I got 2 quid out of it by turning it upside down, and a load of tampons and fanny pads when I drilled the lock out.

Walked out with 2 dart boards (which the management were pretty pissed off by), 2 darts scoreboards (both broken, but bodged them together to make a working one), and a condom machine.

These days it sits proudly on my shed wall next to a table saw and an AI picture of Prince Andrew that I had framed like it's a renaissance painting.

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Piece_Maker@reddit

Do you keep it operational?

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poopio@reddit

Regrettably I do not. It takes old pound coins and I can't for the life of me work out how to swap it to new ones.

I did toy with the idea of putting sweets in it, since I have a pool table and the guys who come round to play on it are always offering to help fund the upkeep of the table so thought that might be an entertaining way of raising a few quid. I also considered buying one of those guide dogs for the blind charity collection boxes where you put the coin in the dog's head, but it would cost about the same as reclothing the table twice.

It's pretty old. The internals of it are wooden, and the coin mech seems to just guage the thickness of the coin (at a guess).

If anybody knows how to work on these things (aside from putting a quid in and pulling the lever), I would be quite interested in returning it to some sort of working condition.

This is the back of its guts:

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hyperstorm@reddit

Could you get a supply of tokens that are the same size/shape as old pound coins? (No idea where you would source something like this, maybe trolley tokens?) Then your friends could buy those off you and use the machine, the way a lot of arcades work.

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poopio@reddit

I suppose that could be an option, but I fear that I've probably fucked one of the coin mechs by dicking about with it trying to find out how it works.

It has to be said that unless I can actually work out how the mechanism works without sticking my hands in there, I'm not rushing to take it to bits again - last time I pissed about with it, it took a chunk out of my finger. This is the part where I'm guessing it checks the coin(s) - that bit holding it down is like a blade.

It's amusing to have on the wall though - especially when people come round for the first time and haven't been told about it.

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hyperstorm@reddit

Ouch! Oh well, it's definitely still fun as simple wall decor.

Let me know if you ever do get it working though! This is weirdly interesting to me. I'm tempted to see if I can get my hands on one of these machines (or something similar) myself.

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partial_to_dreamers@reddit

As a watered down yank, I have a light up Zima bar sign in my living room. Did you folks get to enjoy the malt liquor that was Zima in the late 90s-early 2000s?

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wendz1980@reddit

Several glasses and an individual gravy boat.

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eventworker@reddit

I had a 5ft x 3ft cardboard cutout forest with 'Beware the Judderman my dear, when the moon is fat' written on it for about 15 years after Metz was discontinued that I liberated from a pub in 2000.

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reginaphalangie79@reddit

Ooft, that advert haunted my dreams

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wendz1980@reddit

Oof forgot how creepy it is.

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neilm1000@reddit

I saw the advert the other day! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-VUlXl0wUQ

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Significant_Froyo899@reddit

Great advert. Can believe how long ago that was!

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Chefdangerous-09@reddit

wtf even is that ?

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_Cridders_@reddit

We stole a tabletop once.

My proudest drunkern "procurement" was a pair of mannequin legs though, although they didn't come from a pub. I've still got them, that must have been 20 years ago now 😂

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neilm1000@reddit

Carlsberg made those Little Mermaid things for years- there is a full size one on a fountain at their head office. For anyone really geeky, you can tell that this is pre-1971 because that is the year they added the green leaf over the.

Prior to the early 1930s the Carlsberg logo had a swastika on it but it was removed for 1930s reasons.

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Florence_Nightgerbil@reddit

I’m assuming the mermaid is because their brewery is in Copenhagen. I would love one of those.

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PeterG92@reddit

The Mermqid in Copenhagen was incredibly underwhelming when I went. It was so tiny.

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neilm1000@reddit

You could still find them on eBay and the various bric-a-brac stalls at beer festivals until reasonably recently. A lot of festivals have stopped doing breweriana stalls now, which is a pity.

I'm typing this in the break at my Camra branch AGM where this very thing has come up in conversation!

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superioso@reddit

Their head office also has museum, and the replica statue in a courtyard next to the bar. The original from ~100 years ago is in the harbour, inspired by the little mermaid fairytale.

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DavidBovvinge@reddit

A black-and-white picture featuring Sid James and Barbara Windsor in a pub, which appears to be something to do with Watney's Red Barrel.

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8306623863@reddit

\~5 pint Stella glass

Old picture as my Ma currently uses it as a vase.

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notonetimes@reddit

Are those Tupperware boxes really big, it looks like a normal sized pint

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8306623863@reddit

Found an old photo of it with a normal pint glass for scale

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Dark_Akarin@reddit

I’ve not got any pub tat but I do have a PG Tips plushie monkie.

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ricketyass@reddit

My stepdad had a huge empty famous grouse whisky bottle that he collected coppers in.

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lungbong@reddit

My dad had the same, I'm sure the bottle was nearly 5l and when he counted the money when it was full he had enough to buy a video recorder.

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phoebsmon@reddit

I had a massive Sailor Jerry's jar I did that with, in tribute to my parents' Famous Grouse number.

Unfortunately I passed out going chair to wheelchair, trying to be a smartarse at the wrong time. Came to to the cat prodding me and licking her lips, the jar distributed across the room, and a pretty tasty wound or three.

I keep them in a plastic jar now. My mam fell on it once, she just got bruises so it's probably safer. Although the cat's buried in the garden so slim chance she tries to eat me in future.

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ultaga84@reddit

I have a few things...... Probably my favourite.... A limited edition vaux mug with a frog inside. Plus a few other vaux mugs.

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eerst@reddit

What is vaux?

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Queasy-Ad-18706@reddit

A deceased North Eastern brewery.

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JimmyBallocks@reddit

I have an illuminated Watneys Bitter sign.

It’s only special to me as a lot of my mum’s side of the family worked at the Watneys brewery. In fact some of them lived in Watney Road - the entire street was built by the brewery.

Yes Watneys might have been shit but they were OUR shit.

The sign is pretty shit too tbh

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neilm1000@reddit

A few years ago, someone relaunched the Party Seven. Sadly (but maybe not unsurprisingly) it didn't succeed.

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Queasy-Ad-18706@reddit

If it had been filled with decent beer who knows...?

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Queasy-Ad-18706@reddit

As a student we acquired the whole door sign for a local pub. It rested in the basement of our halls for several years apparently.

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rpf1984@reddit

Skeleton (successful)

Full sized wooden Native American Chief (unsuccessful)

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Kinelll@reddit

Was the chief from Plymouth?

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rpf1984@reddit

No! Much further north!

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tehSlothh@reddit

Not pub related but a few years ago i found one of limited edition gold carling cans in a crate which i still have, and on the back of the can you scan the code and I got sent an Umbro x Carling t shirt which I also still have

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UriGagarin@reddit

6 weissbier glasses .

and as tradition, a wife ( we literally met in the same pub as the 6 beer glasses.

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SnooGadgets5130@reddit

Monty Python and the Holy Grail pint glass.

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PalaceOfStones@reddit

My Dad's got a small collection of enormous branded mirrors from closed 90s pubs in the upstairs of his shop. No fucking clue why, they're just hidden in a stack in the corner gathering 30 extra years of dust.

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Disastrously-C@reddit

I stole this taxidermy seagull from a pub after a particularly drunken night in 2004.

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insertitherenow@reddit

My mate has a pint glass Madonna had a pint in.

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Realistic-Muffin-165@reddit

A litre sized Hoegaarden glass. Its a monster.

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Rilkal@reddit

‘A jug from Brewdog that says Growler Club on it

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sputnikandstump@reddit

I have a floor tile from a pub that I went to regularly. Felt pretty guilty about knicking it, then it got shut down in the big Brewdog buyout

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ConstantineGSB@reddit

Woke up one New Year’s Day next to a yard of ale glass, it was mostly empty.

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Yachting-Mishaps@reddit

I accepted that I'd never beat my best friend in a game of "who can steal the most extravagant tat from a pub" when he walked out carrying an entire table over his head and escaped completely unchallenged.

My best haul was a set of stainless shot and wine glass measures that I've been using for 20 years.

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will17blitz@reddit

Christmas tree baubles of various beer brands--I just kept on winning at pass the parcel.

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ARobertNotABob@reddit

Not strictly "pub" as it came (via ex-MiL) from a import/export vintner, but I have a Methuselah bottle of 1959 Krug (my year of birth).

The cork has partly rotted and air has got in so it's undrinkable, but it's still a "nice to have".

Somewhere, I have a few boxes of house matches from various pubs, if anyone remembers those.

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Fickle-Watercress-37@reddit

An ashtray that could hold over 9000 fag butts!

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reginaphalangie79@reddit

💪

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gander8622@reddit

Nothing big or extravagant. But I have a Grolsch drip tray, it holds a dear memory of the pub we spent our first and second year of uni at. Lock ins, pool nights, curry nights and 6 nations coverage.

It was closed down at the end of our second year and we had a big blow out party, if it wasn't nailed down it was taken basically.

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reginaphalangie79@reddit

That's a beautiful piece of modern art there. I still have one of the massive Benson and hedges ashtrays

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alfienoakes@reddit

A Toby draught figure lifted from a pub by my ex.

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7alligator7@reddit

I’ve got so many things to add to this thread I’ve saved it for when I get home

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Tough-Prize-4378@reddit

Random pint glasses

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chairman_mooish@reddit

I had about three dozen and took them to a local charity shop in advance of a house move. Very reluctantly they took them off me

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mikeyyyy_@reddit

A massive assortment of glasses. One of my locals has Sam Fender’s Brit award as a beer tap, which is nice

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CompleteWhittle@reddit

My step mum ran a pub. I've kept a babycham deer and glass. The nicest thing was a Finlandia vodka ashtray...don't now where that went though, I think a 'friend' may have 'alf inched it even though it was huge.

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beaker_72@reddit

As a student back in the early 90s, me and my two flatmates used to nick ashtrays from pubs. Not just any old ashtrays though, the big ceramic branded ones. It helped that we usually went out drinking straight from Uni so we always had a couple of bags about us to stick them in. It got to the point where we were targeting specific brands (to expand the collection) and would go to certain pubs just because of the ashtrays we knew they had. We even persuaded a few barmen to clean them before we put them in our bags. They didn't care because they knew the brewery would just send more.

By the time we moved out of that flat, we had over 30 in the collection. No idea what happened to them.

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mij8907@reddit

A lovely glass redbull jug

A John Smith’s ashtray

Numerous branded pint glasses

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itsfourinthemornin@reddit

My mum owns about two boxes of different beer mats and trays. Not the small, square beer mats but the old cloth ones that'd usually be dotted along the bar, most places changed to the plastic trays so she collected them too.

Her parents owned hotels and bars so had a small stash, she worked there growing up of course. As she had my sibling and me, she spent most of that time as a bar manager so the collection grew!

Ofc she has the beer glass, ashtray and other misc pub "tat". All to be mine!

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Heck_@reddit

Not the most exciting, but I've got a load of old school rectangular bar towels, mainly from the 90s when my grandparents had a pub. Think Boddingtons, Whitbread, etc. Get regular use in my kitchen and make me think of my grandparents.

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Lynex_Lineker_Smith@reddit

A watneys red barrel pump tap and a Guinness one shaped like a pint of Guinness that lights up. I used to have a becks bier pottery pump tap too but unfortunately that got broken . Ohh my weirdest one is a load of painted wooden toucans beaks which I imagine are Guinness related from an Irish pub my mate used to manage. But that carlsberg mermaid is fab.

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dairyman69@reddit

A flashing neon sign that read "Cocktail Bar". I managed to get rid of the section that said "tail". Had it for a couple of years until someone stole it at a party.

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fightmilk5905@reddit

My dad has a collection of over 200 bar towels from different pubs and bars across Australia from between 92 and 94.

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Dazzling_Variety_883@reddit

That's magnificent!

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oooohshinythingy@reddit

Bugger all but I nicked plenty of pint and half pint glasses, then ss years went by shot glasses

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jlb8@reddit

I've got some John Smiths shower gel

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Plus-Mulberry6761@reddit

So many ashtrays, glasses, coasters, etc etc.. I grew up on a small street with a pub at either end.

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Realistic-River-1941@reddit

Carlsberg memorabilia with their old logo could be interesting.

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Thelichemaster@reddit

Some jagermaster promotional tat from 20 years ago along with a few hobgoblin glasses when it was still decent.

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BocaSeniorsWsM@reddit

I have a box full of pump clips. Quality metal ones too. Have a few on display. But that's not really tat thinking about it. Sorry. Bye.

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Frogs-and-Snails@reddit

I've got a massive Jonny walker ashtray, and a small badger beer one. Haven't smoked in about fifteen years though, so the small one lives in the garden for when my brother in law comes over, and the big one is in the shed as a "shit I can't lose" tray

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Minute_University_98@reddit

Carlsberg don't make gaudy objects, but if..

Ah, oh no wait.

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