July 2004 - Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society

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Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal Page 5 “There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern. You are sure you are welcome, and the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.” Dr Johnson 1776 (from “Boswell’s Life”) The following is based on a list originally published in the Midlands Evening Tribune October 21 st .1899 with many additional notes on pubs which have come and gone since then, and those still with us today. Nuneaton had a wide selection of old licensed premises. Pubs are important in social history because they were, and still are, the working man’s front parlour. Here they can meet with their friends with an endless supply of liquid refreshment. A whole chapter of people’s lives were acted out in the bar. A resort of comfort in times of relaxation, in distress and marital infidelity. Political headquarters, sporting clubs, friendly societies, pub entertainments from darts and dominoes to skittles met there. Chasing the opposite sex, posing in your best attire, getting rid of the stresses and strains of your working lives, a place of retreat from a nagging wife or a plethora of kids. Where you could indulge in lotteries, betting, and other gaming pursuits. Not to mention the warmth and cleaner facilities than sometimes one would have at home. But like actors once their part at the bar was played out, the soap opera of their lives was forgotten. Public houses also played a key part in the commercial life of our town. The Inns and Hotels provided bed, board and dinner for visitors and commercial travellers. Fed and watered their horses. Provided a stopping place for stage coaches. Business was contracted in the bar in the days before offices were used. Even today some of the best business deals are done over a “pie and a pint”. Taverns and public houses provided entertainment for the general population and often were used as a place of business and a stopping place for carters and traders. Beer houses were found throughout the district, and were informally set up in people’s front rooms where a chance of Nuneaton’s Inns, Pubs and Taverns By Peter Lee a bit of additional income could be obtained. In a town of courts and yards like Nuneaton the owner of the plot of land with his good front house fronting the main street, who had filled up his back yard with court tenements could turn his parlour into a beer house thus scraping a few more coppers out of his hapless tenants. In October 1830 a new act of parliament removed 2s. 8d. beer duty from a barrel of beer and removed the need to be licensed as long as you only sold beer. New beer houses sprung up all over the district. Many only lasted as long as the proprietor could be bothered to carry on the business. Some old beer houses established back in 1830 are still going today as fully fledged pubs. Now having obtained licenses to sell wines, spirits and tobacco. The former Wellington (now re-named The Pig & Whistle) traces its ancestral history back to the Old Ram, Market Place, where A.Jephcoat’s shop stood. A very very old pub believed to date back to the time of Nuneaton Abbey. It is recorded in a survey of Nuneaton dated 1543/4 when at “Le Ramme” was Richard Jely, tenant of John Broke, of London. Daniel Green and Thomas Bills were publicans there in the first half of the 19 th century. In Dan Green’s time it was a resort for cock-fighting. When the pub closed in the 1860’s its place was taken by the New Ram in Abbey Street (later re-named the Wellington) William Clarke was the publican at the New Ram in 1863. The Wharf Inn. In Coventry Road was built as a canal pub with warehouses for boat traffic. It was originally owned by the Arbury Estate and then was taken over by Salt’s Brewery of Burton on Trent which was absorbed into the Bass empire. Demolished The Virgins Inn stood here on the corner of College Street at Hill Top. It is said there was a shrine to the Virgin Mary on the corner of Coventry Road and College Street. (Although it was not called College Street when the shrine was there up until about the middle of the 19 th century.) That is how the pub got its name. It was located at this ancient road junction which was known as “Virgin’s End” Tuttle Hill The White Horse, Tuttle Hill, a former canal inn is today a Chinese restaurant (2003). F. Wale was the landlord in 1938/9 The Punch Bowl, At the bottom of Tuttle Hill next to the Coventry Canal bridge. Closed in 1950 to remove an awkward bottleneck when the canal bridge was widened. A Bass House. The license was transferred to a new pub by that name further up Tuttle Hill. Licensees included Francis Harrison (1806) John Cotton (1828) Samuel Warren (1841). In 1877 Alfred Scrivener the former and founding editor of the Nuneaton Observer wrote: “While the Market place was excited by the dashing glories of the mail coach, curious groups woul;d gather at times on the Punch Bowl bridge to watch the passage of the packet or the flyboats. A.Harris was the landlord 1938/9 The White Gate Inn, a cottage near the Windmill on Tuttle Hill, kept by Thomas Lees. It bore the inscription: “This Gate hangs well upon the trees, call and drink at Thomas Lees”. The Windmill Inn, Tuttle Hill (house occupied in 1899 by Thomas J Chinn.) formerly kept by William Croshaw (1815 - ), cordwainer, who was the grandfather of one of Nuneaton’s mayors Walter Croshaw (1879- ). Mayor from 1937-1939 Abbey Street/ Abbey Green The Plough and Ball, Abbey Green. Derived is name from the Old Plough in the Market Place which closed and was demolished in 1845 and the site later became Iliffe’s the Chemist on the corner of the Market Place and Bye Corner (Newdigate Square). The license was then combined with the equally ancient Golden Ball an old pub on Abbey Green. The original Golden Ball was said to date back to the 18 th century but looked from contemporary photos a lot older. Also that is was favourite retreat in the olden days for cock fighters and bull baiters when there was a bull ring on Abbey Green. Kept by William Cox in 1850 and Tom Willoughby c. 1900. The pub was being altered in 1904 when it suddenly collapsed. Ceilings were being lifted because they were only 5’10” or 6’0” high. However the building was so fragile that the act of raising the ceiling brought the whole lot crashing down. Two workmen were injured but got away with a miraculous escape including one Nuneaton rugby footballer Mr.A.Lee who was due to play for the club against Handsworth the next day. Needless to say he could not play. The pub was then entirely rebuilt and is now the Town Talk. Fred Carris was the landlord in 1938/9. The Old Plough incidentally was the site of (Continued on page 6)
Page 6 (Continued from page 5) a row of butchers shambles. Wooden stalls were arranged around its walls and live animals were killed on the spot and their still warm meat supplied to local shoppers on market days. The Wheatsheaf Inn, Abbey Street dated back before November 1825 when it belonged to a Mr. Lingard and was occupied by a landlord called Marler and other tenants. It was sold for £600. Later landlords were John Randle 1828 and 1841, William Craner (1850) The Wheatsheaf was rebuilt about 1900 and was demolished during July and August 1963. A new modern pub has taken its place. The Bush. Licensed victuallers returns for 1806 give the name of this pub in Nuneaton and the victualler. William Taylor was the proprietor, but its location, thought to be in Abbey Street, is not known for certain. The Black Horse, Midland Road, (not to be confused with other Black Horse pub, next to Mrs. Brownsons in 1899; John Simons was the owner.) The Constitution. Abbey Street. An 1830 beer house. The Black Horse, Abbey Green next to Lusty’s factory in 1899(house standing then but since demolished) the noted badger baiters house. An 1830 beer shop. The Coach and Horses. Abbey Street. In the 1806 – 1850 kept by the Hastelow family. The Abbey, Abbey Green. James Adie. Stood on the site of Frederick Bostock’s butchers shop 7 Abbey Green. Building still stands in 2003 but much altered externally. The Horse Shoes, Abbey Green, near the Entrance to the Burgage Walk. (This Horse shoes not to be confused with the Horse Shoes at Chilvers Coton with which it was contemporary). J. Wilson The Three Tuns, Abbey Green. Licensees Richard Hawkins (1806) In January 1827 the Nuneaton Diary records “The Three Tuns, public house in Abbey Street with three tenements adjoining put up by auction and bo’t in about £1250. John Vernon was listed there in 1828 and 1841. In 1850 Joshua Siddall was tenant but it was owned by William Vernon. It was put on the market again in August 1851 in four lots. Gauze Hall, now Baptist Chapel, Abbey Street. Landlords were James Thorne in 1851 and John Haynes. Built in the heady days of the gauze ribbon trade at the beginning of the 19 th century as ware rooms for wholesale ribbon dealers and traders. The gauze ribbon fashion died out and the large premises were put to other uses including a pub. By 1900 it had become the factory premises of Pool Lorimer and Tabberer. A subsidiary of their Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal Leicester factory. It burnt down in 1928. The Bell, Meadow Street. Joseph Bacon. Opened 1830 as a beer house. Still extant in 1841 when the address was given as The Bell Inn, Abbey Meadow. The Bowling Green, later the Midland Railway Inn, on the corner of Midland Road and Manor Court Road. A very old pub which was there in the 1840’s. It was bombed by the Luftwaffe in 1941 and its license transferred to a former private house in Princes Street – The Harcourt. The landlord in 1938/39 was H.J.Knight. Rose and Crown, Abbey Street, house now occupied by Mr. W.Green, builder. Benjamin Rayner was landlord at least between 1806-1841. In November 1877 Alfred Scrivener, Editor of the Nuneaton Observer wrote: “The Rose and Crown in Abbey Street, though probably old at least as the times of Good Queen Bess, is changed into a plain and comfortable private house. It is a remarkable well preserved example of the old half timbered English dwelling…The Rose and Crown in more modern days is chiefly remarkable because its landlord, Mr. Banjamin Raynor, who cracked his last old fashioned joke more than twenty years ago, for thirty years united his general duties as mine host the office of English Master at the Grammar School.” The Exhibition, Abbey Street where Mr. T.Tullett’s shop stood in 1899. George Wood was the proprietor. Opened in 1851 to celebrate the Great Exhibition. The Royal Oak. Abbey Street. Alfred Scrivener wrote in 1877 ”Higher upAbbey Street on the same side (as the Rose & Crown) was the sign of an inn probably more ancient than its name. It is a low mean dark building, but the quaint corridors and intricate passages at its rear might be contemporous with that memorable tavern the Tabbard at Southwark, whence Chaucers merry company started on their immortal pilgrimage.I please my wayward and credulous fancy by supposing that this tavern close to the Abbey Gates, was frequented of old by pilgrims and jolly friars, by chapmen and devotees, whom business or devotion brought to the venerable pile.” Unfortunately this word picture is all we have of the Royal Oak because in the 19 th century it was entirely rebuilt and its replacement was itself demolished in September 1960. C.B.Scattergood was the landlord in 1938/9. Shepherd & Shepherdess, Abbey Street, where Dr. Vaughan lived in 1899. James Biddle was the proprietor. Paul Pry, An 1830 beer house.Abbey Street, named after a popular American song which came out in 1820 and must have become popular in Nuneaton ten years later. Paul Pry was an inquisitive character. Located just above the former chemist shop of Ranby’s which stood on the corner of High Street and Abbey Street. David Smith was the proprietor. Seven Stars, Abbey Street, on the site of the Tribune Buildings. (next to the Bull’s Head – now the Courtyard). An 1830 beer house. T.Johnson kept it at one time but precise dates are not available. New Seven Stars, Abbey Street. (possibly on a different site to the previous beer house. Elizabeth Staine. Whether this replaced the Seven Stars on the same site is not known. Cross Keys, Abbey Street next to the Half Moon. Mr. John Smith purchased a newly erected premises at the back of the Half Moon for £350 in August 1817 which may have been later opened as the Cross Keys beer house.Occupied by a Mr. J.Smith in 1899. The Fox, Abbey Street. John Bell. Mr. Bell was driver of the mail coach to Birmingham. He also rented a field in the Abbey Meadow off Meadow Street. The Shipwrecked Sailor, Abbey Street. An 1830 beer shop. The Britannia, Abbey Street, where Messrs Wilkinson’s premises were. Former publicans were John Dance (1828), Thomas Winter (1841), Joseph Haddon. The Odd-Fellows Arms. Or the “oddies” as it is popularly known is the last traditional pub in Abbey Street. Still with its original name. J.H.Lucas was the landlord in 1938/9. The Bulls Head, Abbey Street. In the 1806-41 period was kept by the Robottom family (Samuel, James and Samuel) In 1863 by Sarah Ball. As it backed onto the Nuneaton gas works it may have been owned by them. When it was sold by the Gas. Co. in September 1893 former occupiers were listed as George Randall, Thomas Buckler and William Ratcliffe. On 5 th February 1986 it was sold to Bass Holdings Ltd. A former landlord reportedly has seen a ghost of an old lady in Victorian dress who was seen late in the bar one night as he was locking up. She walked out through a solid wall! The King’s Arms Upper Abbey Street. Most of the Kings Arms customers were colliers or workers at the Hall and Phillips factory at the rear to which there was a direct connecting footpath. This path was closed one day a year to establish Hall & Phillips private right of way. Former landlords include William Congreave (1806) John Grave (1850) Kept by Pat Molloy, a policeman in the 1920’s. There was a swimming pool at the rear of the pub. The origins of this is obscure some (Continued on page 7)
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July 2004 - Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society

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