Rovers Return, Bushys Basement and Mad Sunday

The Rovers Return, or "Rovers" as it is more commonly known is the one pub on the Isle of Man my friends and I would have to call our "local" despite the fact that non of us actually live close to it... We started drinking in pubs around the Key (bay) in Douglas (The capital of the Isle of Man) usually visiting the "Douglas Hotel" and the "Trafalgar" pub both situated near to each other. The Isle of Man has a large Live Music and Bands culture, we started going to these pubs because of the fact that loads of our friends were in local bands that played reglarly in these venues. Soon the live music began moving from these pubs to the Rovers and so we followed. The Rovers had recently done up it's "Basement" into an area where live bands could perform on stage. It was called "Bushy's Basement" due to it's link with the Bushy's Brewery which ran the pub. And ever since then the Rovers and it's Basement have been our homes. On a night out we always seem to start in the Rovers and then move on from there. One thing I love about the Rovers is you could walk in there one day on your own and still know almost all of the people in there. We know almost all of the staff as many of them were our friends that have gotten jobs in there and also just because everyone is so friendly and fun you can't help but grow to love the place. There are certain things that you come to learn when in the Rovers "lifestyle", there is no reception for mobile when down in the basement - gotta go upstairs, but people tend to know if they can't get hold of you it cause you're in the basement and so just come wandering down. also beware of the toilets downstairs... they tend to be a bit temperamental, which we all soon learned... ick... also the layout of rooms is confusing and random to begin with - upstairs there's the pool room - pool table and amazing juke box, the TV room - TV usually with football and no smoking - good for a quiet one, the bar - the first room you enter with the bar - mmm, the big table room - ...room with bit tables - the best room to go to if the pool rooms full and there's loads of you, and then there are just small random rooms for chilling in. When you first enter the Rovers you feel so lost and overwhelmed but if you're the right kind of person you soon fit into the lifestyle and it all seems to make a weird kind of sense...

Down in the Basement there is also a series of rooms devided by low archways. There is the Band room - where the bands set up and play, with an area for drunken dancing and skanking, the room with tables and chairs or "round the corner" where you can sit and chill and listen to the band but still just about be able to hold a coversation. and of course the room with the bar, in which you'll find most of the locals - aka our mates/the pub crew propping up the bar and helping out the staff when it gets busy.



The Basement has bands on the nights over the weekend, sometimes with a £2 entrance fee which you can avoid depending on who you're with and who's on the door... and also holds themed nights for the hell of it, like "pirate night" "medieval night" "1950's night" - Gangsters! just to name a few, the staff - aka Sam, Jay, Julie and the rest randomly decorate the place with things relating to the theme - and what with Sam and Jay's amazing artistic talents (used to go to college with them on the art/media course) it usually looks... interesting?

And so after we have stocked up on alcohol from the rovers we head over to the Outback, situated round the corner from the Rovers where all the rest of the Rovers crew tend to accumulate after about 11-12 o'clock and carry on the night with shot lists and laughing at scary dancing Alan whos is always, without fail, dancing alone, crazily on the dance floor - we think he goes there for his weekly exercise...

and then of course there is the infamous -

Bushy's Beer Tent

The Bushy's Tent appears on the island for the TT fortnight in May/June, conveniently located adjacent to the "Bottleneck" car park on the Douglas Promenade close to the Sea Terminal - so close that the thousands of bikers arriving on the incoming boats have a good view (and sound) of the massed ranks of visiting hordes already enjoying the beers and live bands on offer. For the past two years, the tent has not only proved an excellent vantage point for the antics of road-users performing a variety of entertaining stunts - wheelies, do-nuts etc. (some partially- or fully-naked, if you're lucky!) - but is also perfectly located for watching the Dukes Video big screen recordings of the TT racing itself. Jobs at Bushy's Beer tent are ledgendary, you've got to have guts and staminar to work there and to withstand the ominous "Bushy's Flu" that inflicts the workers due to the fact that they are working in damp conditions (spilt beer) in the cold (next to the sea - in a large tent...) but it's all worth it because you're in the centre of the action and excitement and getting paid for it.


Along with bushy's beer tent and the TT there is the awesomely amazing Mad Sunday in which the promenade along the sea front is closed off to cars and a street party ensues... the Beer tent is the place to be, there are thousands of people from all over the world along with all our friends from college and the pub crew all out for an amazing time...



Roll on the summer... :D