One of the best hidden bars in Naples, the English Pub is buried in a residential neighborhood a few blocks off U.S. 41 East at Commercial Drive, an area with minimal traffic. Yet on a Thursday night a couple dozen people are kicking back with Stellas, Blue Moons and Bass.
It's trivia night, a popular draw for the East Naples bar. Tonight, bar regular Howie Nulse has been thrust into quizmaster duties.
A half dozen tables of competitors, ranging from single players to groups of eight, are scattered throughout a bar that is dotted with people just there for a beverage or two. Nulse asks five rounds of 10 questions in categories like geography, sports, movies and history.
"In addition to her husband, Dolly Madison served as official hostess for what other president?"
"What do boxers Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick all have in common?"
Those are supplemented with two handout sheets. Questions vary in levels of difficulty. At the end of every couple of rounds, teams trade their sheets.
At the end of the final round, teams tally up their points. Gift certificates are awarded to the three highest scores along with the best team name - usually some double-entendre, often too vulgar to reprint.
For a while, Nulse would come in on Thursdays just to play, and often win, the game. But there isn't a regular host, so he occasionally gets drafted.
Trivia night is just one way the owners are trying to bring in bigger crowds - mostly young professionals looking for a decent beer - in addition to the British expatriates that use the pub as home base, especially during the English Premier League season, and a place to get their bangers and mash fix.
"We're doing something different almost every night," owner Joe Ring says.
There's poker, open mic and service industry nights. The weekends bring live singers and DJs spinning '80s and '90s music.
For most it just takes a couple visits to add the establishment into the regular bar rotation.
"If we get them in a couple of times, then they start coming in regularly," Ring says.
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