Bonfire Night: at the Colliers Tup
One pub that will really be getting the maximum out of the Guy Fawkes weekend is the Colliers Tup. A special Bonfire Weekender will see the flames rise at the South London house on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
But that's nothing terribly new to manager Andy Thompson. The Colliers Tup has had a bonfire every Friday and Saturday night since April and even has a permanent bonfire pit in its spacious garden.
It all began, Andy explains, only a year ago. The pub had recently reopened after being taken over and completely refurbished by Tup chain owner Massive.
"We just thought we'd give a bonfire a try on November 5 and we were rammed," he says. "So we decided this year to make it a permanent feature and dug the pit.
"There are a lot of South Africans around here and they love a fire, but everyone is fascinated by flames, I think. It's something different and people just like to sit and watch."
There's no doubt that the pub is now well prepared for this year's celebrations. A pile of wooden pallets has sprung up at the back of the garden, supplied by a local company which charges £30 for up to 100 pallets.
The pit sits in the middle of a roped-off gravel square and while it's burning a member of staff will be on duty, feeding the fire and making sure people keep back.
Safety, however, has never been a problem at the Tup. The fire brigade has only been called once - and that was by someone having a joke. Nor has Andy had a single complaint, despite the pub garden being squeezed between a block of flats and a hotel. Only high winds will prevent the bonfire being lit.
The local licensing officer is a frequent visitor - he has a regular table right opposite the fire. "So we know if he's happy we've got nothing to worry about," says Andy. "It helps that it's an over-21s pub and we don't allow kids or pets. It's a rugby crowd here as well, and they're always well-behaved."
The Bonfire Weekender starts on Friday November 3 with "Pure Pyromania" and a DJ until 1am. There are electrical fittings so that speakers can be put outdoors but Andy is careful about disturbing the neighbours and the al fresco music goes off at 11pm.
aturday night is "Disco Inferno" with 70s and 80s music until 2am and is billed as the "main celebration" - a party of 100 have already booked their seats - while November 5 itself features a "Bright Sparks" quiz plus "gunpowder, treason and lots of tot".
Effigies of George W Bush and Tony Blair will top the bonfire instead of the usual guy to give the evening a contemporary political slant.
Andy has also bought in 2,000 sparklers to hand out to customers - but he's also hoping that he'll be able to have some fireworks on the pub's flat roof "if we can get the safety aspect sorted out".
Food will be served from the barbecue and the menu each night will feature bonfire favourites such as jacket potatoes, fiery chicken legs, pancake hotdogs, roasted garlic bread and the pub's signature "tuppy apples". That will be washed down with warming mulled wine and hot toddies made using recipes Andy has simply taken off the internet."It's all a bit of fun and should be a great laugh," he says.
