Beverley Pubs A to B
Admiral Duncan Inn
Minster Yard South. Also known as the Hallgarth Inn.
Hallgarth Inn was the colloquial name for the Admiral Duncan Inn as its address was Hallgarth, Beverley Parks. Throughout the 19th Century its name appears to change back and forth in the trade directories as the compilers of the directories interpreted the colloquial names. The title Admiral Duncan was probably given in honour of the naval hero who defeated the Dutch at Camperdown in 1797 and died in 1804. Shortly after his demise on the 2nd May 1808 Stephen Acklam, an innholder, leased property in “Lurk Lane Closes- near Flemingate” from the corporation (DDBC/16/350, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Archives).
Thomas Straker, victualler at the Hall Garth Inn from 1840 until 1870 and a member of the Rising Star lodge of The Independent Order of Odd Fellows friendly society, who met regularly at the Admiral Duncan Inn as did many other societies throughout the 19th Century. He was also recorded as the publican of the Black Bull, Lairgate in 1837 and it is probable that this may have been another retail premises for their brewery. The Hall Garth Inn had its own brewery and Henry Martin Straker ran the brewery until c.1882. The 1881 Census recorded Henry Straker aged 44, as an innkeeper and brewer resident at the Admiral Duncan the time of the census. Also present were his wife, mother (a “retired innkeeper”) one son and three servants. Henry Martin Straker seems to have been an entrepeneur of sorts and is known to have run a theatre in Hallgath in the 1880s; this was likely to have been at the inn according to the Victoria County History (page 207).
Writing of inn-signs in a local newspaper in 1939, The Rambler noted: - “The Hall Garth - The Old Manor House - went out of existence as a hostelry, just over 40 years ago. It occupied an unrivalled place in history in the records of ‘Beverley’s Inns and Houses’, for centuries previously. On the outside wall, nearest the Minster, there used to hang a finely executed full-length picture portraying Admiral Duncan, which was the name that carried the licence of this one-time famous inn, inside of which were the remains of a dungeon.
The Hall Garth, or Admiral Duncan Inn, was generally looked upon as a Beverley house, but was actually situate in the parish of Beverley Parks.”
In 1896 the Beverley Quarter Sessions made the decision to revoke the licence of the Admiral Duncan Inn as they felt it was “unnecessary” in the area. The pub and its brewery were purchased and subsequently closed in 1896 by Canon Nolloth, vicar of Beverley Minster.
The buildings including the farmhouse that was still in use, were all demolished in 1958, and the aerial photograph here shows them just prior to demolition. I have attached a map of the Admiral Duncan that I have re-drawn from an 1880s Ordnance Survey plan that shows the inn plus its ancillary farm buildings; click on the link above to view the map. A modern property development is now situated to the south of Minster Yard South named Hallgarth Way to commemorate the former buildings, but in winter months when the grass is low, the outline of the former inn can clearly be seen in the grounds opposite the Minster.
Select victuallers: - 1828-29 Raleigh Page; 1831-34 Robert Crosley; 1840-70 Thomas Straker; 1877-82 Henry Martin Straker; 1892-94 R Smelt
Anchor Inn Beckside.
Also know as the Black Horse.
This property was recorded as an inn as early as May 1st 1809 (minute books), named as the Black Horse in papers relating to the transfer of the property from one owner to another. However the property was actually older than this and deeds for the Black Horse/Anchor date from 1745 according to documents held in the Hull University Archives; other references in the documents include:
1st May 1809 - “Sale to Samuel Bland of… ‘piece of waste behind house of S.B. at Beckside known by the sign of the Black Horse … for 3 guineas”.
22nd January 1814 - “Agreement for sale…for £435…Samuel Bland to William Gray…‘The Anchor’, formerly the ‘Black Horse’.
11th November 1848 – “Conveyance for £300… ‘The Anchor` and a butcher’s shop built where the cottage stood”.
Admiral Lord Nelson
Flemingate. See Lord Nelson.
Albany Hotel
Norwood Dale, Norwood.
David Sherwood noted in his Streets Of Beverley book that “it was agreed by the council in 1896 that the street to the west of the Cattle Market was to be called Norwood Dale”. In 1899, soon after Norwood Dale was named the Albany Hotel was listed for the first time in the trade directories, situated at the southern end of a short row of houses which are still in use today.
The Albany may have been named after a racehorse and was one of a small cluster of pubs in or off Norwood that are difficult to separate from one another in the various directories and almanacs. Their names and locations were recorded in very similar ways and Norwood, Norwood Walk and Norwood Dale seem to have been often confused. The pub ceased to be listed in the trade directories after 1926 but was still shown on the Ordnance Survey plan of 1927.
The dealings of the corn exchange were removed from the old exchange in Saturday Market to the former Albany Hotel in 1947, and corn was sold from the site for many years. The building was demolished in the 1950s and the site is now vacant at the north-west end of the Cattle Market yards.
Select victuallers: - 1899-1926 Robert A Lichfield
Angel
Butcher Row.
A rare pub in as much as it has retained its original name (as far as we know) for at least 200 years and continues to trade in the year 2001. It is a Grade II listed building (DoE serial No.10/18/69) and is afforded the limited protection from re-development that this award bestows.
It was known to have been “frequented by Liberals” during the 18th and 19th Century according to John Markham and the 1851 Census recorded landlord Daniel Boyes, a famous Liberal, aged 45, his wife, two daughters, four sons, two female house servants, and an occasional nurse (for the children) present at the time of the survey. By the time of the 1881 Census Joseph Garforth aged 62 was licensed victualler at the Angel. He ran the pub with his wife and two apparently very busy servants. One was listed not only as a servant but also as barman and brewer of the pub’s ale.
The present building is a rebuilt structure of the mid-19th Century (described as “recently rebuilt” in 1855) and it is likely that the original building was a low-building that had been an inn or alehouse for some years prior to its first entry in the trade directories circa 1806. The sign of the Angel was derived from the Salutation and was almost certainly a religious reference.
Select victuallers: - 1806 Robert Larcum; 1831-32 John Larcum; 1834 Wiliam Arnott; 1840 Hannah Arnott; 1846-72 Daniel Boyes; 1877-89 Joseph Garforth; 1892-97 Thomas Tempest; 1899-1905 Francis Carter; 1915-21 Louis Spick; 1929 Adrian Alexander Slesser; 1939 John Francis Kirby; 1943 A Postill; 1955 W L Thompson; 1965 J L Mellors; 1975-87 L J R Arundale.
Arden's Vaults
Hengate.
Francis Alwyn Arden was a wine and spirit merchant who formed his business circa 1786 with John Barker Arden a surgeon, apothecary and nine times mayor of Beverley (although the cellars had been used as wine cellars since at least 1760 according to Jan Crowther). The property was listed as “Arden’s Spirit Vaults” as early as 1815 in the trade directories; Arden & Son, wine and spirit merchants and retailers also held an “on-licence” and licensing records show that it was granted a full six-day licence in 1904. It continued in business until closure in July 1936. Francis A Arden of No.16 Hengate was still listed as a beer retailer there in 1921.
Architectural historian David Neave writing in the revised Pevsner guide said of the building “...contributes much to the street scene…No.16, Arden's Vaults, of the early 18th Century: two storey with arched doorway to left leading to a brick vaulted cellar 100 feet long and over 20 feet wide [with 7 feet thick walls]. On the front is a stone with the cryptic inscription ‘St M's Ch Py’ which, like several others in the town denotes St Mary’s Church property.” The former Arden’s Vaults has Grade II listed building status, which was awarded in 1950 (DoE serial No.9/83/50).
Battle of Trafalgar
Molescroft. See the Molescroft Inn.
Beaver
North Bar Within. Also known as the Wheatsheaf and the George.
The Beaver has undergone a number of name changes during its life and has also been re-fronted at least once; most recently in mock half-timbering when it was the fashion to do so, probably in the early 1930s. It was first mentioned in the trade directories around 1790 as the Wheatsheaf, becoming the George circa 1851-53 and the Beaver from circa 1900; plans for alterations to the George Inn for John Smith & Co in the winter of 1901 referred to the property as “now called the Beaver Inn” (BOBE/6, 1901-20 East Riding of Yorkshire Council Archives).
The sign of the beaver is most likely a reference to Beverley’s coat of arms, which of course contains a beaver. Wheatsheaf Lane, which runs along the east side of the Beaver was named after the pub and had previously been known as Suggitt’s Lane; John Suggitt had been victualler of the pub during the 1820s and 1830s and although the alley was named on a plan of 1841 as Wheatsheaf Lane (DDX 243/1, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Archive) it continued to be known locally as Suggitt’s Lane for many years.
Bee Hive Inn
Keldgate.
There is no longer a pub in Keldgate, but there was until very recently, however it was not the original as the original was situated on the west side of Lairgate at No.112. The original property was not shown on Burrow’s plan of Beverley in 1747 and is referred to in a bundle of documents “relating to the Beehive Inn” of circa 1770, held in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council Archives. They describe amongst other items a “lease and release” from John Gale, Edward Brown and Thomas Brown in 1770 to “Jeremiah Brown, innkeeper and wife Anne, of two tenements on the west side of Lare-Gate” (DDBC/15/4).
The census of 1851 recorded William Spenceley aged 56, his wife, one daughter, two sons (one aged 14, an apprentice to a watchmaker), one male servant (a brewer) and a general servant.
At the south side of the pub was a yard known as Beehive Yard, which was still inhabited in 1881 according to the Census of that year. In 1876 owner Robert Stephenson of the Golden Ball Brewery undertook alterations to the property and it was at this date that a “new Dram Shop window” was added (designed by architect William Hawe of Beverley - BOBE/6, 1876-83.).
The link, below left, will open a plan of the area showing the original Bee Hive Inn re-drawn from an 1890s Ordnance Survey plan.
The sign of the beehive is a common one and may have been a reference to the trade of an early victualler at the inn or a sign that it was a house for the workers of the area. The original Beehive had a marvellous inn-sign in the form of a carved hive. The last victualler of the old Beehive was William Grant in 1957/58. The photograph shown here dates from c.1926.
The new and now demolished Beehive was situated on the south side of Keldgate, built in 1957 at a cost of £13,000 according to The Inn Places of Beverley (see bibliography). The modern, re-built, Beehive struggled to remain profitable in recent years, having been a little too far off the regular pub route in Beverley. The site was sold for redevelopment in 2005, and new private housing now fills the site.
Select Victuallers: - 1832-59 William Spenceley; 1864 Ann Spenceley; 1867 Edward Stephenson; 1869-72 Richard Straker; 1877-82 Richard Lamb; 1887-89 William Wilkin; 1892 F E Gray; 1897-99 George Watts; 1905-39 Charles Verity; 1955-65 William Grant; 1975 L J Sharp.
Beverley Arms Hotel
North Bar Within. Also known as the Blue Bell.
Little can be added to the history of the Blue Bell written by Beverley historian John Markham in which he described the inn as “one of Beverley’s principal establishments”. However, an inn known as the “Bell” was recorded as early as 1686 according to the Victoria County History and was probably the Blue Bell North Bar Within, and the Beverley Corporation Minute Books (page 12) record that on 18th August 1726 a meeting was held “at Mr Wellbank's house at the Bell.” The minute books later recorded “Robert Norris at the Sign of the Bell” in 1775 and he was still there in 1772 according to an auction notice in The York Courant newspaper 25 August of that year.
John Pearson at the Blue Bell Inn, North Bar Street, was the first entry for the pub in the trade directories, in 1791. The Corporation Minute Books also recorded a later consent “to Alderman Middleton, Alderman Arden and Mr Lockwood to extend the fronts of the Blue Bell –‘belonging to Messrs Arden and Lockwood’- and the house lying between the inn and Crabtree Lane –‘belonging to Alderman Middleton’. This transaction was dated 7th April 1794 and is probably the date that the Blue Bell was extended to take in other property in the terrace (Crabtree Lane was an older name for Waltham Lane, which adjoined the hotel). The bill-head shown here dates from the 1830s.
The Blue Bell was re-named as the Beverley Arms Inn in 1794, after these major rebuilding works by local mason William Middleton, who is likely to have been the named owner of one of the properties. In 1804 the Minute Books recorded that ”the Corporation has no objection to Mr Greenwood putting out signs in respect of the Beverley Arms”. The sign in question would have hung from a gallows style post stretching out into the road, common in the Georgian period. The census of 1851 recorded Samuel Fiddes aged 60, his wife, sister in law, one male house servant, three female house servants, one post boy and one male waiter present at the time.
When the Morley family bought the pub in the 1850s it was noted to have a billiard room, coach houses, a brewhouse, barns and outbuildings, not to mention a large garden that stretched the whole length of Wood Lane. A large paddock at the rear of the garden was used for fetes, travelling circuses and shows. The Beverley Arms was also a Posting Inn or House from the 1840s until the 1890s where horses that pulled waggons or coaches could be hired or changed during long journeys. The photograph here is taken from an 1860s carte-de-visite and is probably the earliest taken of the Beverley Arms.
The census of 1881 gives an impression of how the inn had grown in terms of business, which was reflected in the numbers of staff resident at the time. Listed were; David Morley Hotel keeper aged 52, born South Cave, his wife, four sons, two daughters, two coachmen, one waiter, one charwoman, one housemaid, one cook, one tea maid, one kitchen maid and one nurse maid.
Trust Houses Ltd bought the building in 1938 and in 1970 it became part of the Trusthouse Forte group. Although it had been awarded Grade II listed building status in 1950 (DoE serial No.9/213/50), this had little effect in preventing the major rebuilding that took place in 1966/7. Much of the original property was altered beyond recognition at that point. The interior photograph shown here features the old kitchen, probably from the late 1930s.
Select Victuallers: - 1726 Mr Wellbank; 1770 Robert Norris; 1780 Harry Wilmot; 1784-91 John Pearson; 1814-28 Nathaniel Dalby; 1831-34 Samuel Fiddes; 1840-46; 1848-51 Samuel Fiddes; 1858-64 David Morley; 1867-82 David Morley junior; 1889-99 Mrs Jane Morley; 1905-16 David Morley; 1921 James Arthur Treen; 1929-37 Benjamin Jagger Dyson; 1939 Trust Houses Ltd.
Black Swan
Highgate. Also known as the New George & Dragon and possibly as the Talbot and/or Tiger. (see Talbot)
No.25 Highgate was recorded as “new built” in 1756 and at some point became licensed premises known by the name of the New George & Dragon. John Wood’s 1828 plan of Beverley shows two George & Dragons in Highgate, and contemporary trade directories concur, so there were two George & Dragons in Highgate for a short period (see George & Dragon), but this one had changed its name from the New George & Dragon to the Black Swan by 1792.
Stephenson’s Golden Ball Brewery (of Toll Gavel) leased the Black Swan in 1844 and by the turn of the century it held a full licence. It ceased to be listed in trade directories after 1908 and was made redundant in 1909 when compensation of £530 was paid to the owner Robert Ranby Stephenson. David Sherwood noted in his “Lost Streets of Beverley” that Thompson’s Passage dated from the 1870s and remained into the 1930s. Thompson’s Passage could have been named after the then victualler of the Black Swan, one William Thompson.
The sign of the Black Swan was a very common one and was used for a variety of reasons e.g. as part of a coat of arms (usually the previous land owner) but the locals would no doubt have known it as the “Mucky’ Duck”. The Rambler, writing in a local paper in the 1930s, noted that it had the common three tuns hung from its sign, which denoted that wines were also available from within. The existing property is another of Beverley’s grade II listed buildings (DoE serial No.10/91/50) and remains intact as Nos. 25 and 25a Highgate, to the south of the Monk’s Walk. A plan of the area showing the Black Swan re-drawn from an Ordnance Survey plan can be viewed by clicking the link below and the pub can just be made-out in this 1905 photograph.
Select Victuallers: - 1791-1815 Nathan Hart; 1823 Henry Pickering; 1828-29 John Stockdale; 1832-34 John Botterill; 1840 Hutchinson Stamford; 1846 Thomas Gibson; 1848-51 George Smedley; 1855-64 John Botterill; 1867-72 William Thompson; 1877-79 John Turnbull; 1882-89 William Carr; 1892-99 Samuel Bielby; 1905 J Parkin; 1906 George Leonard Sapcote; 1908 Arthur Smith.
Blue Bell
North Bar Within - see Beverley Arms.
Blue Bell Inn
Wood Lane.
The Blue Bell Inn was a small beer-house that was scheduled for redundancy in 1909 but was reprieved as it was noted by the licensing committee, who wrote in the report of their December 1908 Sessions that “the landlady is 76 years of age and desires to remain - under the circumstances it might be considered that the license remain for the present”. A large blue bell sign was allegedly hung outside the Blue Bell until circa 1920 according to the Rambler (see bibliography).
The old pub finally closed in December 1954 when its licence was surrendered for a new pub on the Swine moor Estate named the Humber Keel. The marvellously intact Georgian beer-shop window is still in place on the building, which survives on the south side of Wood Lane and is quite rightly a Grade II listed building (DoE serial No.9/416/87) and is noted in The Royal Commission on Historical Monument’s survey as dating from 1780-1860. On close inspection the west wall of the building reveals that a side door had once existed and to the front the marks where the inn-sign hung are clearly visible.
Select Victualers: - 1864-67 Richard Richardson; 1872-77 Joseph Simpson; 1879 James Oxtoby/Padgett; 1889-97 James Chapman; 1899-1916 Mrs Jane Chapman; 1925-39 James Edgar Clayton.
Blue Boar / Blue Boar & Horns
Toll Gavel. See Holderness Hotel.
Board
Grovehill. See Nag’s Head.
Board
Ladygate. See Custom House Vaults / Prince’s Feathers.
Boot
North Bar Within. See Royal Standard / Turf Inn.
Boy and Barrel
Westwood Road. See Woolpack Inn.
British Workman
Beckside.
Often referred to as a pub but actually a coffee tavern and temperance house, which opened in 1882 (VCH page 151). There were at least two temperance coffee-houses in Beverley (see also the Market Cross) and they fought a short-lived battle against the demon drink; they are mentioned here for interest only. The British Workman ceased to be listed after 1899 and its failure may in some part be due to the fact that its next-door neighbour was the Ship Inn - temptation indeed. A 19th Century coin known as a “refreshment token” exists for the British Workman and bears the name British Workman Tavern.
Buck Inn
Beck Side.
Deeds relating to the property which now houses the Buck Inn date back to at least 1666, however the first reference to it as an inn appears to have been in 1727 when William Smith was listed as the innkeeper (DDBC/32/1 onwards, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Archives).
In 1759 an alehouse licence was granted to Richard Hopwood for “the Buck Inn- the sign of the Blue Bell” (DDBC/32/87). This curious reference may suggest that the Buck Inn had previously also been known as the Blue Bell and that the signboard or possibly a blue bell itself still hung outside. The frequent change of tenants at the pub are well documented in archive material held at the Hull University and show that this practice, often thought to be a modern problem where landlords change frequently, is one that has occurred throughout history. For example: -
23rd December 1823 – “Lease and Release for £15…Thomas Pickering of Beverley, labourer and wife Mary (nee Stimson) to Gillyatt Sumner jnr… their share of Buck Inn and adjoining house on N. side of Barley Holme” (Hull University Archives ref. DDMC/9/159).
6th April 1825 – “Lease at £16.4s. rent…Gillyatt Sumner jnr. To Richard Stimson of Beverley, gardener and publican and wife Sarah…Buck Inn and adjoining tenement on E., on N.side of Barley Holme” (DDMC/9/164).
6th October 1827 – “Lease for 7 years at £16.10s. rent…Gillyatt Sumner jnr. to William Bielby jnr. of Beverley, butcher… Buck Inn” (DDMC/9/187).
4th November 1880 – “Conveyance for £550…to Joseph Robert Spencer of Beverley, brewer The Anchor and cottage”.
The Black Horse could possibly have been an inn since the earliest date in the deeds (1745) changing its name to the Anchor following the sale of 1814. The Census of 1851 recorded John Abbott aged 67, his wife and a female house servant present at the Anchor. Although the Anchor was no doubt a busy pub and one that held a full licence, it was made redundant in 1906 when £1200 was paid in compensation to the owners John Smith’s Brewery of Tadcaster. It ceased to be listed after 1906 in the trade directories and in 1907 it was advertised as “up for sale” in the Beverley Advertiser.
Situated opposite the west-end of the beck at the corner of Blucher Lane; the buildings were demolished for road widening circa 1910 - shortly after the photograph shown here was made. The sign of the black horse may have been a reference to a local coat of arms, and although the sign of the anchor has had ecclesiastical links this one was probably a seafaring name. The pub faced the end of the Beverley Beck and was open during the Beck’s heyday when Beverley earned its title as a port. The link below will open a plan of the area around the Anchor that I have re-drawn from an 1850s Ordnance Survey Plan; the plan also shows other pubs in the immediate vicinity.
Select victuallers: - 1809 Samuel Bland; 1814-23 William Gray; 1826-51 John Abbott; 1855 Boynton Welburn; 1858-59 George Eddon; 1864 Jospeh Thurlow; 1867 Samuel Scarr; 1870 J Dawson; 1872-77 Marr Hill; 1879 William Holt; 1882 George H Belliss; 1887-89 John Clark; 1892 William Easten; 1897 Giles Hancock; 1899 John Hancock; 1905-06 Mrs Jessie Spence.
The Census of 1851 recorded James Wilkinson aged 57, his wife, two sons and a female general servant all present at the inn on the night of the survey, however some years later the following rather sad article appeared in the Beverley Guardian (May 15th 1858): -
“SUDDEN DEATH
It is again our painful duty to have to record another melancholy instance of the uncertainty of human life, in the sudden decease of James Wilkinson, landlord of the BUCK INN, Beckside. It appeared that on Monday morning the deceased went to work at the Beck, being then in his usual state of health. Between eight and nine o’clock he returned home, and complained of pains and cramp at the stomach. After walking about the yard with the view of obtaining some relief from the intense pain, he went in to the house, and sat down, when his wife asked him if he felt better, but he had only time to imperfectly answer “No,” when he instantly expired. An inquest was held at the Sloop Inn on the following day before E.D. Conyers, Esq., Coroner at which Mr. W.W. Boulton, surgeon, stated that he and his father had attended the deceased eighteen months previously, who at that time was suffering from an attack which threatened to bring on apoplexy. He (Mr. Boulton) had not the slightest hesitation in saying that death was caused from disease of the heart. Verdict accordingly.” (sic)
In 1878 Henry Wilkinson, son of the late James, carried out alterations to the Buck Inn adding a new kitchen to the rear; this plan has been re-drawn from the original and can be viewed by clicking the link above. Later owner's Worthington & Co carried out further alterations in 1921 (BOBE/6, 1878-146 & BOBE/6, 1921-8).
The Buck Inn has been awarded Grade II listed building status (DoE serial No.11/1/87) and in its brief description it is described as simply “18th Century”, however the deeds of the Buck Inn actually appear to date from 1666; it is clear that the deceptive frontage of the property hides an extremely old core and it is well worth considerable closer investigation. Sadly The Buck has closed recently (2009) and is a great loss to the Beckside and Flemingate pub crawl. We can only hope that it re-opens soon.
Select victuallers: - 1727 William Smith; 1759 Richard Hopwood; 1786 William Sumner; 1791 Thomas Woodmansey; 1806 John Simpson; 1814 Thomas Woodmansey; 1823-26 Richard Simpson; 1828-31 William Bielby; 1832 William Bielby junior; 1834 George Ruddock; 1840 William Hutton; 1846-59 James Wilkinson; 1864 Elizabeth Wilkinson; 1867-82 Henry Wilkinson; 1887-92 Mary Elizabeth Wilkinson; 1897-99 George H Warcup; 1905-16 Walter Scott; 1921 Emily Miriam Scott; 1929 George Blizzard; 1939-46 Herbert Wilson; 1955-56 Mrs D Wilson; 1965-75 G A Hindmarch; 1987 John Firth.
Bull
“outside the North Bar.” See Rose & Crown.
Archived by
the British Library