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Bars on Film
One of the delights of Kings Lynn that I have
rediscovered recently is the Majestic Cinema.
Not only is it centrally located, but it is also great
value, and so it was that I recently went along to
see Quentin Tarantino’s new film, ‘D’Jango
Unchained’. Even when lost in a world of
escapism, a small portion of my brain is still
rooted in the real world, so imagine my surprise
when I noticed that in a scene set in a saloon in
pre-civil war Texas our heroes were helping
themselves to beer from hand pumps on the
bar. I have no idea if this is an authentic reconstruction
– I suppose it is possible that hand
pumps proliferated throughout the Confederate
States and, like much of America’s brewing
heritage, became victim to the rigours of prohibition.
It is far from the first scene to feature on either
the big screen or TV. Some of the more famous
pubs are sets constructed especially for the
show, the Rovers Return in Coronation Street
and the Queen Vic in East Enders being notable
examples. Many, however, use real locations,
but care must be taken in sorting fact from
fiction. As a child, the bar wife lived in the house
in Swaffham which was used in the TV series
Kingdom. Unlike Stephen Fry, she could not see
the sea when she looked out of the window. In
the same way, a pub may be shown in a film
from the outside, but the interior may be a
studio set. An example is the City Barge in
Chiswick, the exterior of which features in the
Beatles film ‘Help’, whilst the interior was a
mock up filmed at Twickenham Studios. One
that was a real pub was the White Horse in
Nottingham, scene of the drinking contest in
the British New Wave film, Saturday Night,
Sunday Morning. The building, out in Radford,
is one of the few locations used in the film that
still exist, but sadly it became an Indian Restaurant
in 2011.
There are a large number of websites dedicated
to film and TV locations, so I can reveal
that The Angel Inn near Oldham was used in
‘Life On Mars’, the Wellington Inn in West
Gorton in Manchester, which featured as the
Jockey in ‘Shameless’ closed in 2010 and the
Vick and Comet in Newcastle from the film ‘Get
Carter’ is now an Irish theme bar called O’Neills.
Film location tourism pulls in the crowds for
many years after the original production. Parts of
North Yorkshire are still ‘Herriot Country’, whilst
apparently Holmfirth is known as ‘Little Hollywood’
on account of it being the location for
‘Last of the Summer Wine’. It is surprising that
Lynn is not billed as the home of ‘Revolution’.
“Murder one surly varmint in
cold blood and find yourself
banned from all the saloons in
Texas. That would teach you.”
I am told that many fans like to act out their
favourite scenes. A visit to the café used in the
film ‘When Harry Met Sally’ could be an interesting
experience if a coachload of fans were
visiting at the time. For pubs, you might just
about get away with a re-creation of Albert
Finney’s drinking contest if you could find a pub
selling enough pints of mild, but there is not a
lot I would like to imitate from D’Jango. Indeed,
I don’t ever recall a scene set in a saloon in the
old west that turned out well. I am surprised
that they don’t have bouncers on the door, or at
least display stickers advertising their membership
of the Saloon Watch scheme. Murder one
surly varmint in cold blood and find yourself
banned from all the saloons in Texas. That
would teach you.
bar.man@btinternet.com
Read the bar man every Friday in the Lynn News
or check out the website to see archived copies
20 | SPRING 2013