Roy,
If there was one thing I was able to do well, it was drink not a thing to brag I know but who amongst us does not have issues in their past they are not proud of. I have frequented pubs in the city centre, I have frequented pubs in the suburbs, I have drank in night clubs, working mens clubs, drinkers and shebeens. In fact I have drank everywhere and anywhere you could buy a drink.
That being said my first pint cost me 1/1d and it was in the Sportsman, Saltley Rd, Neachells and it was bloody awful, but I soon acquired a taste for it. I remember going to the Bowling Alley & Ice rink not long after it opened and my mates played bowling while I stood at one of the little side bars and drank a measure of everything on the price list from top to bottom and because I still felt sober I restarted at the bottom working my way up.
Everything was great until I got outside into Edgbaston Street. I must have fell in love with the pavement, because the next thing I knew I was flat on my face kissing it. Such happy memories.
Phil