CHAPTER XIII
The Cricketers' Arms
Viewed from outside, 'The Cricketers' Arms' was a pretentious-looking building with plate glass windows and a profusion of gilding. The pilasters were painted in imitation of different marbles and the doors grained to represent costly woods. There were panels containing painted advertisements of wines and spirits and beer, written in gold, and ornamented with gaudy colours. On the lintel over the principal entrance was inscribed in small white letters: 'A. Harpy. Licensed to sell wines, spirits and malt liquors by retail to be consumed either on or off the premises.'
The bar was arranged in the usual way, being divided into several compartments. First there was the 'Saloon Bar,' on the glass door of which was fixed a printed bill: 'No four ale served in this bar.' Next was the jug and bottle department, much appreciated by ladies who wished to indulge in a drop of gin on the quiet. There were also two small 'private' bars, only capable of holding two or three persons, where nothing less than four pennyworth of spirits or glasses of ale at threepence were served. Finally, there was the public bar, the largest compartment of all.
Wooden forms provided seating accommodation for the customers, and a large automatic musical instrument—a 'penny in the slot' polyphone, resembling a grandfather's clock in shape—stood close to the counter, so that those behind the bar could reach to wind it up. Hanging on the partition near the polyphone was a board about fifteen inches square, over the surface of which were distributed a number of small hooks, numbered. At the bottom of the board was a net made of fine twine, in which several india rubber rings about three inches in diameter were lying. There was no table in the place but jutting out from the partition which divided the public bar from the others was a hinged flap about three feet
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