A staff half

It is ironic that I was in The Ring public house in Southwark, last night, given that Ricky Hatton has just impressed in his latest defence of his Light Welterweight boxing title.

As its name suggests, The Ring has boxing history, although some of that history is debated. Whether John Graham Chambers actually wrote the Queensbury Rules in the bar of the pub is unclear, and the pub never had a boxing ring itself, although there was one just across The Cut from which it takes its name.

The bar is decorated with old pictures of boxers from the past and has other memorabilia to boot. Its main attraction though is that it still gives 'staff halves', a practice which is dying out in drinking establishments now as weights and measures regulation, and tight, margin grabbing landlords try to outlaw it.

Interesting that they are happy to serve a pint with a half inch head on it though......