Ye Olde Cider Bar

Do you know that feeling of going somewhere every day and being so familiar with it that you don’t see something special or obvious – and then feeling delighted when you notice it? That’s what I want to do with my art.

Here’s Ye Olde Cider Bar on East Street, Newton Abbot:

The first thing to say is that ‘Ye’ is pronounced as ‘The’ and that the letter ‘Y’ isn’t actually a letter Y, it’s the letter thorn. Yes, thorn, a letter which is no longer in the English Alphabet. Thorn looks like a p and b combined and is odd, as it has both an ascender and a descender. Thorn is a letter from Old English which was replaced by Y in printed books when we imported typefaces from Belgium and the Netherlands which didn’t have that letter in their upper or lower cases of lead letters.

Ye Olde Cider Bar is one of only a handful of remaining cider houses. Originally there were both alehouses and cider houses. Gradually both of them converted into pubs and sold a wider range of drinks, but a true cider house has never sold anything but cider and fruit wines. There are no beers or spirits sold. It’s my favourite place for half a pint of perry (pear cider) and packet of crisps after walking back from an evening watching the Barn Owls out of town. If you’re wondering why only half a pint it’s because it’s 7.5% alcohol and tastes like fruit juice. I used to love the signs for the meat draw and the large menu of snuff available. Somehow the staff are always friendly.

Part of my Postcards from Newton Abbot series of postcard-sized ink and watercolour sketches.

Ink: Platinum brun sepia pigmented ink
Pen: Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen
Watercolour: Derwent Graphitint watercolours

More Postcards from Newton Abbot