hnpcc | (no subject)

Last drinks called at Naughtons.

Seriously of all the places I would have thought safe from closure Naughtons was very high on the list. I mean, it's a pub. Next to a university. Across the road from 4 residential colleges. Down the road from a further 6. Down the road from two major hospitals and a research institute. Down the road from a major football club.

And yet, after 173 years, it's apparently closing.

Bloody stupid overheated housing market. How can they even think of turning Naughtons into student accommodation?? And surely they could do it without losing the pub! There are plenty of students who'd pay to live above a pub!!

I lived in one of the residential colleges down the road. I did Honours in the department across the road. I haven't been there since they gentrified the place some time in the early 2000s, but it still holds great memories for me.

A group from my Honours cohort (together with students from neighbouring departments) used to go there for a counter meal and to watch Melrose Place every week together.

My 3rd year lab prac group went there every lunchtime break until we were asked not to drink alcohol before returning to continue the all day prac. (I still don't think this was affecting our results in any meaningful way!) Even then we still went afterwards. (Actually we still went for the counter meal at lunch, we just got the non-alcoholic variety of drink with it.)

Pretty much every college function ended up there at some point. It was the pre-pub crawl meeting place, the post-pub crawl meeting place (for those still capable of movement), the after formal dinner meeting place, the meeting place in general.

I have some seriously interesting photos taken in it. I am still grateful that I had left before Carlton won a grand final and half the players decided to celebrate there. (This was from the less feral part of the celebrations. Probably fortunately the more feral parts weren't filmed.)

I had some great nights there. I had some crappy nights there. I think I still have a beer glass or two from there.

Seriously, how can they be closing Naughtons?? Unbelievable.