The Domino - Corby

Ultra-rare two-story pub with pitched roof in Corby

Arriving into Corby from the perenially popular Market Harborough direction, you can't, and most certainly shouldn't miss The Domino. There's slightly more chance of missing the pub from the equally acclaimed Peterborough direction, but that's really no excuse, just try a bit harder! An approach from the lesser-known and frankly less popular Beanfield direction, via the dimly-lit Underpass of Doom, delivers you almost directly to the front door of the pub, probably with a bit of a thirst too, so definitely no excuses there then.

Top Tip: From the A427 Cottingham Road, it may appear that the Domino isn't actually open. But let me assure you, it is! Whilst the pub certainly commands the approach from Corbys landmark BP Island, it would have originally been oriented toward the new housing that the pub was built to serve, not the fickle motor trade of the main road. So the view from the road is of the largely windowless rear elevation rather than the more promising and window-full frontage. The stylish 'DOMINO' sign on the gable end appears to have fallen off as well, which doesn't help...

The road to the Domino

So yes, The Domino is open! In fact it's that most welcome of all open pubs, an all-day opener, and an all-day opener that isn't a town centre chain bar. All day, every day, and that's a Domino promise! (ring ahead if travelling any distance, things change, I can't be held responsible for these things, give me a break!...).

The Vestibule, a treat for Door Enthusiasts

Now I love a pub that offers a choice of drinking areas. Far too many of our beloved pubs have been skittled-through to just one big multi-this-and-that bar, almost always resulting in a space that's something of a compromise, rarely a true delight. Because something of the pub itself is lost when a wall is removed (in addition to the actual bricks of course), and once gone it rarely returns. The Domino however offers the choice of a proper Public Bar straight ahead (originally the lounge), or the comfort of a Lounge/Function Room if you swerve off to the left (formerly the bar). In fact the pub originally offered a 'third-way' for the rushed or indecisive drinker. Careful examination of the entrance hall (above) reveals the telltale signs of a blocked-off servery that would have catered for the very traditional pastime of 'Corridor Drinking' and 'Off Sales', examples of which are now quite rare and generally confined to pubs in the North of England. Now if there's a choice, I tend to plump for the Bar everytime. But that's not the point. It's just nice to have a choice you know!...

The Bar

A typically quiet midweek afternoon bar it was on the day I popped in for a pint and a gander. Just a handful of locals in for steady pints and a bit of a natter with whoever came in, which on this occasion was me. Christmas shopping for teenage daughters seemed to be the exasperating topic of the day, other subjects included the day Billy Connolly bought everyone a pint in the Rock*, vintage Petrol Cigarette Lighters, and the truly obscene price of 1970's Radiograms these days. Classic afternoon stuff, very useful one day I'm sure. A very smart bar then, with comfy Bench Seating, Pool and Darts, and the inevitable big screen sporting action that's essential to urban/suburban pubs like this. I propped the bar up, ordered a pint of the local 'Smooth', and settled in to enjoy the afternoon chit-chat.

John Smiths Extra Smooth seems to be the smooth of choice almost everywhere these days, but more particularly in Corby where the beer is ubiquitous. At the Domino this represents a nice bit of beery continuity in that the pub was originally built by Warwicks & Richardsons Brewery of Newark-on-Trent who had pubs throughout the Midlands and beyond. The pub was still branded as a Warwicks house until at least the mid-sixties, though in truth the brewery had been taken over and closed by rapacious Yorkshire brewers John Smith's in 1962. I've always liked their Cask Bitter and wish I could find it in Corby, the smooth being just that little bit too smooth for my hop-ravaged palate.

Warwicks advertising at the Victoria Hotel, Beeston

Smooth Operator

Typically fine Corby carpeting in the Lounge/Function Room

I moved onto the Guinness as the conversation moved onto the ups and downs of the local pub scene, mostly closures unfortunately, but lots of useful information for future exploration. I mentioned my previous, now mothballed blog on Traditional Pub Games...

"Oh, we've got a Skittles Table" sez he...

[recovers jaw from carpet]... "Really!… Where's that then?" sez I, looking around and seeing no skittles tables of note, expecting it to be in the loft or gathering dust in an outbuilding.

"Over there mate!"

And over there it was, hidden in a convenient Skittles Table sized alcove, half buried beneath the pubs audio system. A terrific, very old (slightly modified I guess) Pepper Brothers Northamptonshire Skittles Table of a type I wasn't expecting to find anywhere in Corby, maybe in a club but certainly not a pub. Wow! Quite a find! In Corby! A Skittles Table! Wow!

If I were the kind of blogger that ran a bespoke Corby Pub Safari Bingo Card (I'm not, though now I mention it...), ‘Northants Skittles Table - In Pub’ would be the big number right in the middle, the one that won the big bully-bonus bottle of Bells Whisky. The huge gallon-size ones you only ever see full of coins on the bar, but still full of Whisky. That kind of Wow!

Skittles is of course common enough in this part of Northamptonshire. Tables can still be found in nearby Kettering, Rothwell, and Desborough, and until very recently most of the villages roundabout would have had a skittles table, sadly now most of them gone. But I'd assumed the New Town of Corby never really embraced the tradition. In fact the only pub in Corby I know of that definitely had a table is the White Hart, but that's an old pub in the village, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have one now. I could of course go on.. and on… and on and on about this table and skittles in general, but that’s another blog, another time. I just hope it gets well used, there was even talk of getting a team up for league play. Wow though!…

Skittles & Cheeses, alive alive-oh!

The Domino is another of Corbys noted live music venues. I'd just missed a two-man Pink Floyd show, all psychedelic lightshow and inflatable Porkers, I imagine. With the Dom' (as the locals almost certainly don't call it) probably the closest Corby pub to home for me, almost within walking distance in fact, I fully intend returning for a night out in the near future, perhaps even an afternoon on the pubs Skittles Table. Or maybe even a game of Dominoes, in the Domino.

(*Rockingham Arms, currently closed)