Duodecimal Spending, Anyone?

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Pictured, a news clipping from a quarter of a century ago, featuring the Douglas Arms Hotel and its estimable and fearsomely eccentric late landlord, Geoffrey Davies. Sadly, the pub itself is also late of this parish, having closed a couple of years ago, for reasons various. Back when we first moved to Bethesda, forty-five years ago, The Douglas [Duggie] was the hostelry of choice for the nervous incomer, and pretty much an enclave for middle class intellectuals and traditionalists alike. The place still dealt in old money: pounds, shillings and pence, which for the younger arrivistes was a bit of a poser, and failure to comply with the antiquated monetary terminology was dealt with pretty short shrift by Geoff [known locally as 'Geoff Davis, Douglas': nicknames being the norm here in Wales], who could be intimidatingly brusque to the point of, shall we say, rudeness, when it came to such things. Fortunately for us, navigating the currency conversion minefield was easy, as we'd grown up with 'old money' and the mental gymnastics involved in on-the-spot conversion after the UK's 1971 decimalisation of its currency, which was recent history for us; and so we fell easily into the Douglas' routine. It didn't stop us sending first time visitors to the place to buy the first round of drinks, though. The expressions on their faces when faced with effectively a 'foreign' currency [Geoff would have killed me for that usage] were priceless and regular sport in those days. A sad loss to the community and the wider world on so many fronts. And by the by, the closest you'll get to £1/16/0 for a pint these days is in Wetherspoons...

Comments

  1. Anonymous14 August 2025 at 08:41

    "Fearsomly eccentric" covers Geoff, a learned man and could hold his own when discussing steam or any other engine! His best was his tactic of pouring rounds (including shorts) down the sink if punters "failed" the conversion test:) His wife deserves a mention (her name has slipped my dylsexic brian but I think was Linda) who had a HUGE mounted royal appointment certificate on the reception wall, of her appointment as the Queens bedchamber maid; just so that us commoners knew our places.
    ATB
    Joe

    ReplyDelete
  2. sideways14 August 2025 at 10:14

    Her name was Sheila - and the certificate if I remember rightly, was Geoff's mother's MBE...

    ReplyDelete

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