another hole in the wall
A hole in the wall is these days synonymous with an ATM. If you can find one, it’s somewhere to pull money out, and sometimes pay money in. But you have to be quick. They often have metal jaws that seem reluctant to part with your wad of notes. A tug of war. Too slow and they grab it back. A new design sees the whole transaction take place inside the flaps of the machine. Here you have to reach inside to retrieve your cash. I’m rather afraid of losing my hand in the process. This combined with anxiety about the plethora of on-screen instructions does little to stem the inexorable tide racing towards a cashless society. Using cash, or even attempting to use cash in some venues, feels like an act of rebellion.
I knew other “holes in the wall”, all of them close to places I have lived.
When first living on the Isle of Wight in the 1970s, I knew the Hole in the Wall in Ventnor. It was a tied house of the long defunct brewery Burt & Co., although the locals often called them “Burps”. There is another inside a railway arch below London Waterloo Station, unchanged for decades. For many it has been a useful stopping off point while waiting for a train at the end of the working day or indeed the end of an evening out. Some of those commuters would have travelled to and fro as far as the Isle of Wight. My father knew them at the bar on the ferry, although he only commuted between the island and Portsmouth.
On moving to Gogledd Cymru, I saw another of these eponymous establishments In Caernarfon, built into the walls of the castle. It's locacted in Hole in the Wall Street and is currently advertised to let.
Dating from 1612, Hole in T’Wall, Bowness on Windermere was much later frequented by Dickens, as were many taverns across the land. History doesn’t tell us how frequently the “progenitor of psychogeography” visited. I went this year and found a haven of calm, hidden away from the Friday night “revellers” and hen parties, behind this boisterous lakeside town.
Others are to be found across the four nations and around the world: Bodmin, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Chichester, Dublin, Edinburgh, Gibraltar and Torquay, to name a few. Many more are no more. In The Guardian, Adrian Chiles mourns the loss of so many pubs, and while now a rare visitor, likes to know a few are still open for him, just in case. A case of having your cake and eating it, surely. They offer a welcoming beacon in a gloomy street. There was one in Ludlow with no name and no sign, but a large lit lantern announced its presence to the cognoscenti. My sentiments echo Chiles’, but neither of us will be much help to the licensed trade these days.
Some establishments have moved to card-only payment. I’ve sometimes declined their hospitality, but also respected those who do so for reasons of security, safety and infection control. Fear of your filthy lucre. On the other hand, a favourite restaurant bucks the trend by only accepting cash. Those caught off guard, and there are many, are directed to a nearby “hole in the wall” or invited to make a BACS payment to the details supplied on the counter. The proprietors are keen to see real money in local circulation rather than disappearing into their banking costs.
Years ago a popular sign could be seen above bars, stating “We have an agreement with the bank. They don’t sell beer. We don’t cash cheques”. Both premises are slowly disappearing from the streets. And cheques likewise.
LINKS
5 popular Isle of Wight pubs most missed by Islanders | Isle of Wight County Press
The Hole In The Wall, Waterloo | theLONDON i
The Hole In The Wall | Caernarfon | Pubs | Gwynedd | Visit Caernarfon Ltd
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I look forward to your comments. Also it would be nice to know where you are in the world. Thanks for reading.