Shuffling around at the Shuffle House

Last Friday saw my company holding its annual Christmas party, and it was a change of both venue and style. During the course of the past 18 years that I’ve been employed, the Christmas party has invariably followed the traditional pattern of a sit-down Christmas meal, normally at a local pub. That honour has traditionally fallen to the Little Brown Jug, a large, single-storey pub in the village of Chiddingstone Causeway, just five minutes’ walk from our factory.

The Jug, as it is universally known, is owned by Whiting & Hamond, a small pub chain based primarily in the west of Kent. W&H operate a similar business model to that of the better-known Brunning & Price but are smaller and much more localised. Over the years the Jug has looked after the company, catering for our Christmas needs, either in the form of an evening meal or, in more recent times, a mid-afternoon Christmas dinner.

In the early days, other halves/significant others were also invited, but as the company grew in size and became larger and larger, this became impractical from a logistical point of view, as well as stretching the budget. In between, the firm tried several other venues, with varying degrees of success. 

Places that spring to mind, include the Bottle House at Smarts Hill, the Plough at Leigh, the Camden Arms at Pembury and the now closed, Edward’s Brasserie at Sevenoaks Weald.  There might have been a couple of other venues, but the above establishments stick in the memory, although not always for the right reasons. It was with no surprise then that we gravitated back to the Little Brown Jug.  

 After a year out due to the pandemic, we returned to the Jug for the next couple of years before, in a bit of experimentation, the boss was persuaded to give
somewhere else a try, and in 2023 the Elizabethan Barn, in the centre of Tunbridge Wells was the venue for our Christmas meal. We were allocated seats upstairs, and if I was to say it was that little bit too cosy and comfortable, you’ll know what I mean.

This year, determined to do something better, our General Manager decided to think outside of the box, and picked what some might describe as a left field venue, in the form of the Shuffle House. The latter is a South American/Latin tapas and stone-baked pizza restaurant, situated in the St John’s area of Tunbridge Wells. The establishment is named after its two 14-foot-long shuffleboards, a game similar to shove ha’penny, which has its origins in 15^th century England, where it began as a leisurely after-dinner activity. I shall explain more about the game, later on, but for now I’m pleased to say that it proved a great hit with everyone who had a go – which was most of us.

Spread across two floors, with rooms leading off from each level, the informal nature of the Shuffle House allowed ample opportunity for guests to mingle and interact with each other. This was exactly what our GM wanted, as it is the direct opposite to the more traditional, sit down to eat set up of the majority of pubs and restaurants, where there is little opportunity to converse with staff members that weren’t on one’s immediate table. The food arrived in stages, and as mentioned above, had a Latin- South American theme. This meant there was a good selection of stone-baked pizzas, combined with an equally tempting range of Tapas. Finally, there were bowls of freshly cooked, curly-skinny fries.

As is normally the case at staff Christmas parties, there was a free bar, but unlike the food I’m afraid the choice of draught beer was disappointing. Continuing the South American theme, the beer at the Shuffle House was sourced from Chile. Stratus South Pacific Lager 4.0% from Rothhammer Brewery was the sole offering, the accompanying BHB Juicy Pale from Big Hug Brewing, having run out. Research reveals that this particular beer is a collaboration brew, between Big Hug and Portobello, but that is academic, seeing as it was unavailable. Call me a Phillistine for dissing free beer, but I found the Stratus South Pacific Lager too sweet, too fizzy and far too cold. I struggled to finish my third pint, and I know that many of my colleagues had a similar experience.

So, what about the game which gives its name to this interesting Tunbridge Wells bar and restaurant? Despite its 15^th century origins, Shuffleboard today is played on a lengthy wooden slabs, 14-feet at the Shuffle House, where there are two such tables. Steel pucks glide with impressive smoothness towards the board’s end, the aim being to rack up high scores by getting ones pucks into zones located close to the end of the board, while avoiding letting them fall off. The pucks are coloured either red or blue, and there are four of each. Two players compete against one another in each game, and to give a better idea of the tactics and the scoring, take a look at the rules, which are reproduced here from the Shuffle House website.

Going back for a moment, to the games origin, shuffleboard evolved into shove-penny, often using a silver penny, so to witness this modern, recreation of the much older original game, was an interesting experience. It is said that the game was once considered a distraction by Henry VIII, who banned it to keep his troops focused on archery practice, but that’s nothing compared to some of the horrors perpetuated by that hideous tyrant, during his reign.

The modern version though, proved a great way to end an evening with colleagues, combining good food, drinks, and a bit of competitive fun. It might be a cliché, but a good time was had by all, and it certainly turned out to be one of the best Christmas parties the company has held, for a long time.