'Eccentric' pig's head pub game up for auction

An "eccentric" pub game, which involves dislodging a coin from the snout of a 200-year-old pig's head, is to go under the hammer.

Auctioneers believe the unique game had been played at the White Horse Inn - recently known as the Jenny Wren - in Susworth, near Scunthorpe, since the 18th Century.

Players are challenged to remove the coin from the wall-mounted pig's snout using a wooden ball on a pull cord, which is suspended from the tavern's ceiling.

The game is among a number of items from the venue being auctioned off on Friday following the closure of the pub in December 2022, which managers had blamed on "spiralling utilities".

Auctioneer Paul Potter said: "As far as we've been able to discover, it is the only place in the country to have the game.

"All we've been able to find that comes even close is Ring the Bull, a medieval pub amusement that involved trying to swing a nose ring on to the horn of a bull's head fixed to the tavern wall but, in my humble opinion, that wasn't in the same league as this."

He said the game was being sold "completely without reserve".

"It will make what it makes," he added.

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