Right now in The Stoke you’ll see up on our walls various pieces of art by Clifton Powell. You can purchase these by speaking to a member of staff or speaking with Clifton Powell directly.

We spoke with Clifton Powell to get an insight into his background and to let you all know a bit more about the artist who has graced our walls with his art:

“I studied at The Jamaica School of Art in Kingston, Jamaica before moving to the UK in the 80′s. I worked with Tempole Art in London who were one of the leading framers and suppliers of Black Art in the UK. With them, I took part in numerous exhibitions including The International Black Art Fair… I an known for my unique style which I developed while paining in Jamica, which combines fluid draughtsmanship with realism and a dynamic use of colour. My work now explores a wide variety of styles, influenced by the places I’ve travelled to and the people I’ve met.” – Clifton Powell

So we hope you take a look around at his art on our walls and again, if you’re interested in purchasing please either speak to a member of staff or contact Clifton Powell directly.

We’ve been toying with the idea for some time now but finally we’ve decided to go ahead an do a Sunday Market.

On Sunday 13th May between 9am and 2pm we’ll be opening up our car park to the general public to buy / sell items from up to 40 stalls. From home crafts and cooking to unwanted attic items, The Stoke Sunday Market is where you’ll find it all.

If you are interested in selling, you will need to contact us regarding a stall. Stall fees are £10 per 2m table stall and all proceeds from stall fees are donated to Great Ormand Street Hospital.

Buying or Selling we hope you can join us for the first ever Stoke Sunday Market. If you have any question please feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to answer them for you.

May the 4th, may be best know for being ‘Star Wars’ day but this year at The Stoke Pub & Pizzeria we’re treating you to something much different and very special for us… the first of it’s kind at The Stoke – An Art Showcase Gallery in the Function Room.

We will be opening up the function room to the general public from 7pm, for you to come down and enjoy a selection of paintings, installations, projections and sculptures from local artists. You will be able to purchase any items you wish directly from the artist but if not feel free to mooch around, take in the gallery, have a drink and enjoy the music.

Artists include: James Jenkins, Josie Davis, Kevin Pickett, Michael Seator, Molly Amber, Luci Ward, Stewie Finn and Ian Ware.

Live Music comes from The Jamie Clark Trio.

It’s Free Entry and the doors open at 7pm on Friday 4th May in the Function Room – we hope you can join us for this local art showcase!

We had a great turnout and set of performances last month at You Must Be Stoking, and this month promises to be just as good! Appearing this month will be:

GEORGE EGG

A welcome return to The Stoke to the king of silly props and “a hugely entertaining variety turn” - The Guardian

Wildly brandishing the world’s second largest briefcase containing a battery of ridiculous props, George bounds onto the stage to perform one of the most original, interesting, innovative, and sweetly whimsical comedy performances you are ever likely to see. He has been hailed as ‘a Tommy Cooper for the twenty first century’ and through tears of laughter you’ll see why. A true cross between alternative stand-up comedy and music hall variety.

George Egg has been a professional stand-up comedian, actor and writer for the last ten years. He has an extremely successful solo show with which he has toured in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Spain, France and of course extensively in the United Kingdom, both on the stage and on the television.

DIANE SPENCER

Nominated Best Female Comedian, NZ Comedy Guild 2009

A storyteller with punchlines, Diane simultaneously delights and repulses her audience, allowing her charming onstage persona to bely her refreshingly honest, rude and wicked ideas. Recently returned from great success with her solo debut show “Lost in the Mouth Specific” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (4 stars Chortle and ThreeWeeks), Diane is one to watch.

“…deliciously dirty, raucously rude and delightfully intelligent talent…” **** ThreeWeeks

“She could be the female Jim Jefferies, with an honesty and humility that makes her abject embarrassment riotously hilarious.” **** Chortle

ALEX PERRY:

Alex began stand up in 2008, and is the resident compere at the Hot and Wild Comedy Club in East London. Here’s what some other clubs have had to say about him:

“No-one escapes Alex Perry’s hilarious observations. A true gem of a comic. I simply would never get bored of his brilliant comedic talents.” Sutton Comedy Club

“An insightful comedian with top quality gags and stories and a winning, down to earth Northerness” Central London Comedy Club

“I’ve seen no better northern act! A for effort, A* for achievement. Alex made me laugh with his realistic style and friendly manner” Dry Spot Comedy Club, Milton Keynes.

GRÁINNE MAGUIRE:

Leicester Mercury New Act of The Year – finalist 2009, Hackney Empire Finalist 2009, Funny Women Finalist 2008

“Sparky with killer routines” – The Stage

“Highly promising, has a big future ahead of her” - Time Out

“An engaging and natural performer with has deep reserves of excitable energy…enjoyably bizarre” Chortle

“Nice observations…can employ understatement with the dry mastery of a Father Ted script” Chortle

“Popular with audiences and comedians alike…excellent set… inspired and extremely funny” Inside Comedy

“Surreal Irish charm” 7 magazine Brighton

FERGUS CRAIG (MC):

Winner of the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year 2009, Fergus was named by the Evening Standard as one of his ’5 rising stars to watch’ along with Shappi Khorsandi and Russell Kane. His sell-out show ‘Fergus Craig Still Watches Neighbours’ was widely praised when it premiered in Edinburgh in 2009. Also an actor Fergus can be seen regularly appearing in Channel 4′s Star Stories and Bafta nominated BBC sketch show Sorry I’ve Got No Head.

“His set was an inventive breath of fresh air, while never forgetting to be funny… with killer lines, great delivery and a delightful dollop of surprises Craig was class” – THE STAGE

“His mixing of accents and languages have the room in creases” – METRO

It’s our last regular gig of the season, but all through June and July watch out for a whole host of Edinburgh preview shows as big names come and try out their new shows with us for cheap!

Line-ups may change, so please contact us on 01483 504296 or check www.youmustbestoking.com for the latest listings.

Doors open at 7:30pm, and the show starts at 8:00pm.

Tickets are £8 (+ booking fee) in advance from www.youmustbestoking.com/tickets, or £10 on the door.

Hope to see you here!

www.youmustbestoking.com
www.facebook.com/youmustbestoking
www.facebook.com/TheStokeGuildford

Tetley’s Mild 3.2% – Carlsberg Tetley

Traditional West Yorkshire ale with a tight creamy head and a reddish chestnut hue. This Mild has a hint of sweetness on the tongue with caramel, fruit and a hint of hop. The finish is dry, malty and with enough bitterness to keep you interested. One of the best beers produced by a multinational brewery. Tetley’s Mild is a year round classic which is mellow, rich in body and sweetness with an underlying bitterness and aroma from the English hops.

Tetley’s Blooming Ale 3.7% – Carlsberg Tetley

Blooming Ale is 3.7% ABV and is said to have a fresh and light floral character perfect for the changing of the seasons and making it ideal as an accompaniment to lemon sole, salty cheeses and tangy citrus desserts. To create its distinct taste and pale colour, Tetley’s Blooming Ale beer is brewed using the palest ale malts and Celeia Styrian hops adding a floral aroma. With longer days and warmer weather, Blooming Ale heralds the end of long, dark winter nights, and welcomes longer, warmer days, and, pub garden weather! Blooming Ale is a relatively light ale but don’t be fooled – it really packs a flavour punch.

Keep your eye on our Facebook page and website for more Pump News coming soon!

Each and every saturday night at The Stoke we will now have a live DJ Show… but don’t expect any Rhianna or Robbie Williams, this is not for the cheesy teeny boppers – it’s going to be full of new, inspiring, alternative, leftfield music! Think Zane Lowe and dare we say it ‘John Peel’-esque nights.

Every week on The Stoke Review our DJ will review an album that has recently been released and here’s who we have lined up for the first week we have DJ Alex Fioravante:

Sat 21st April
We will be reviewing the new album ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning.
Take a quick listen to the band’s latest single ‘How To Start A Revolution’ on iTunes and if you like that you can pre-order the album ‘Allies’ too.

So that’s what we’re going to have in store for you Live at The Stoke every Saturday night, we hope you can come and enjoy the show with us.

Yep, that’s right, we’re on the hunt for a Saturday Night DJ to provide entertainment for each and every Saturday night at The Stoke Pub & Pizzeria.

You may be thinking – “awesome, I can band out some tunes every saturday at The Stoke” – but wait! We aren’t just looking for any old DJ that can spin a few tunes we’re looking for a proper radio style DJ… someone with personality who can provide banter, conversation, competitions and general chit chat as well as the all important tunes.

We are NOT looking for a bedroom DJ who plays the latest Dubstep or House music we’re looking for a well rounded DJ with an expansive musical taste, someone who can provide the soundtrack to every Saturday night at The Stoke Pub & Pizzeria. Think, Scott Mills, Christian O’Conner, Chris Evans, Geoff Lloyd, Fern Cotton and the likes – a night of entertainment not a stonking rave up with a few friends!

Sounds like something you’d be interested in doing? Well all you have to do to apply for this position is to pop into the Pub and ask to speak to manager Ahmad. Provide him with a 30 minute sample CD (please do not send MP3s via email etc, they will be deleted) and an outline of what you would do for each Saturday session. The DJ would be expected to play from 8.30pm til Midnight and would also be expected to bring their own equipment.

Ahmad looks forward to receiving your CDs soon!

So you may have noticed a few changes at The Stoke Pub & Pizzeria recently, well we’re trying to keep things evolving and we wanted to offcially announce a few changes.

First of all we’d like to let you know that we are now open Monday to Sunday until Midnight… so you can now get drinks every day of the week up til Midnight.

Second thing we’d like to tell you about is that our Pizza oven will remain open until 11pm every night. The regular menu will stop as usaul at 10pm but for the last hour until 11pm, we’ll be offering a plateless service of Pizza – phone ahead, pop in and grab a pizza on the way home or just a share snack to satisfy the beer munchies!

2 For 1 Monday’s is now: 2 For £10 Monday’s – So all day, every Monday you can buy any two Large Pizza’s for £10.

Every Sunday we are now running a Sunday Art Project – this is 100% free to join in and you need not bring anything with you. It’s all in aid of Great Ormand Street Hospital and we’d love for as many of you to get involved as possible. Find out full details about our new Sunday Art Project here.

We will be introducing many new things over the coming months, so make sure you keep up to date by joining our Facebook Page and keeping one eye on our blog.

Looking forward to seeing you all here again soon

Help yourself to some art materials and create a word of art: Paint, draw or just rip up the Sunday Papers and glue them on a canvas – let your creativity free every Sunday with our Sunday Art Project.

It is completley free and all you need to do to join in is ask at the bar for the materials.

The idea is for you to experimetn & at the end, if you like what you have created, you can price it and the proceeds go to Charity – The Great Ormand Street Charity to be precise. But on the other hand, if you don’t like what you’ve created we will take it off your hands and add it to any others left behind for other people to buy, again with the proceeds going to Charity.

So don’t forget, it’s Free to join in, you get to be creative and it’s all in the name of a ‘Great’ cause!

Looking forward to seeing you works of art!

PLEASE NOTE: HARD LUCK IS SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

A new year and a new weekly Pool Tournament at The Stoke Pub & Pizzeria – but it’s a Pool Tournament with a Twist… it’s called Hard Luck for a reason!

The first thing you need to know is that Hard Luck starts on Sunday 8th January with a bumper 1st place prize of £200. We’ll be playing Hard Luck every Sunday thereafter but with a 1st place prize of £100.

The second thing you need to know is why it’s called Hard Luck… we’ll here’s why:

• Each player can buy 1, 2 or 3 lives (up to 7.50pm)
• Each life will be placed into a hat
• Two names/lives will be drawn from the hat at 8pm to play the first Pool game
• Then it’s winner stays on, with their next opponent drawn at random from the hat
• If you are playing and your own name is called, you loose 1 life
• The winner is the person that wins the last game

Get why it’s called Hard Luck now? If not let us explain… you could be on the table from the first match until the last match winning each and every game and then right on the last game someone who hasn’t played all night comes along and beats you! They win £200 and you go home with nothing – ouch, Hard Luck mate! It’s all down to luck, when your name is drawn, who you play against, how many times you play and eventually if you win or not!

We think the game is fantastic and we’re very excited to introduce it to our weekly events and we hope you are too.

Now then, just a final bit of information for you. Each life will cost you £1 (£3 total for the max. 3 lives) and the game of Pool is paid for by the new opponent (£1) – so the maximum you will spend in an evening will be £6 and the minimum would be £1 – not bad considering the prize is £200 initially followed by £100 each week thereafter.

So please come and join us for our first game of Hard Luck this Sunday evening, first game starts at 8pm and last chance to buy your lives is 7.50pm – no late entries will be accepted.

See you Sunday!