Beverley Pubs O to Q
Oddfellows Arms
Eastgate. Also known as the Rooster?
No property was shown on the site of the Oddfellows Arms on John Wood’s 1828 plan of Beverley although George Pinfold in his Inn Places of Beverley suggested it was “originally called The Rooster, which had its first licence in 1753”. The Royal Commission on Historic Monuments survey in the 1980s concluded the building dated from post 1780 but before 1860, which would seem at odds with George’s research.
Many of Beverley’s Oddfellows lodges of the friendly societies were formed around 1835-1840 and this would seem a more likely date for the pub, which appeared in the trade directories for the first time around 1840.
George Armstrong allegedly recalled: - “F. Luden built [the] place now used as Oddfellows Arms and carried on business as a druggist”. A building plan in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council Archives dated March 1873 regarding alterations and the addition of a new kitchen to the east of the old one at the Oddfellows Arms confirms F. Luden was the owner at that time (BOBE/6/, 1873).
In 1881 the Census recorded Charles Kirkham aged 31 as beer-house keeper with his wife and two boarders at the pub. During a “re-signing” campaign by the new owner’s John Smith’s Brewery in 1988 the old signboard of the Oddfellows depicting the banner of the Oddfellows Society was replaced by a modern sign showing what appeared to be three country yokels. Locals and the present lodge of Oddfellows, of whom the brewery either had no knowledge or had presumed defunct, met the new sign with predictable disdain – as reported in The Hull Daily Mail of 27th May 1988.
Select victuallers: - 1840 William/John Sheperdson; 1851 Thomas Leng; 1867 John Smith/Robert Thomas Page; 1873-77 John Malton; 1881 Charles Kirkham; 1889-1905 John Warcup; 1909 George Bell; 1913 E G Pape; 1915-39 Thomas Charles; Puttnam; 1987 Trevor Cracknell.
Old Oak Tree Inn
Dog & Duck lane.
The Oak Tree was recorded by name as a beer-house in Dog & Duck Lane in Ward’s Almanacs of the 1870s and the Beverley Echo of January 1885 ran an advertisement for: -
“STAFF ALE, The Leading Article,At the OLD OAK TREE INN, John McGennis proprietor, late staff sergeant 3rd East Yorkshire Regiment: McGennis’s STOUT is good no doubt - In either wood or bottle - His famed STAFF ALE can never fail - To please a thirsty throttle! - Devonshire Cider; 4d per bottle”.
Later, in May of the same year another advertisement appeared to confirm the success of staff sergeant McGenniss’s brew: -
“THE FAR-FAMED STAFF ALE, 3d per pint; Real Guinness’s stout in Bottles; Also, COMFORT, CIVILITY and CLEANLINESS can be had at the OLD OAK TREE INN, John McGennis proprietor”.
The Census of 1881 showed victualler John McGennis living in Keldgate with his family of six and not at the pub premises. The same Census also listed a property named “Old Oak Tree alehouse” in Dog & Duck Lane with the Bruce family and seven residents.
This suggests that there had been a building or house in Dog & Duck Lane known as the Old Oak Tree, which could have been the pub or more likely that the pub was a large building, sub-divided as a pub and private dwelling. From analysis of the Census and comparison with the Ordnance Survey plans it is likely the pub was one of a pair of buildings on either side of a large arched entry on the north side of Dog & Duck Lane. The Oak Tree beer-house ceased to be recorded after 1895 yet Cook’s directory of 1899 listed the Bruce family still resident and the next property vacant, which all appears to confirm my deductions.
Select victuallers: - 1867-77 John Branton; 1879 Frederick Dean; 1882-89 John McGennis; 1891 Mrs Filby; 1892-93 Mrs Jane Harrison; 1894 William Eason.
Ox
Norwood. See the Durham Ox.
Pack Horse Inn
Market Place.
John Champion is listed as one of the first known innkeepers of the Pack Horse at the corner of Dyer Lane, in a directory of 1784. In his will in January 1808 he left “two messuages on the east side of Market Place one being the Pack Horse Inn” to his wife Hannah (DDBC/35 Section Q/1). The inn was “for sale” in the Hull Advertiser of 6th April 1821 and again 9th June 1837. George Armstrong allegedly recalled “the Pack Horse was a great centre for cock-fighting, it was kept by Ben Hood … it was rebuilt some 40 or 50 years ago, it previously having been a yellow coloured low-house”. As Armstrong was allegedly writing circa 1895 this would suggest it was rebuilt circa 1850. The property adjoining the Pack Horse (No.37) was rebuilt in 1760 according to its Listed Building description and this could suggest a date of building for the Pack Horse itself.
Although made redundant in 1925 when compensation of £1280 was paid to owners John Smith’s Brewery of Tadcaster, it continued to be listed until 1928 in the trade directories.The picture shown here dates from around 1910.
The property was awarded Grade II listed building status in 1969 (DoE serial No.9/331/69) and has a blue heritage plaque on its wall containing brief details from its past. The imposing frontage overlooking Saturday Market is relatively unchanged from its days as an inn and is currently the premises of an optician (in 2000).
The sign of the Pack Horse was a common one and often denoted that the inn was a posting inn.
In the case of Beverley’s Pack Horse it can also be seen as a sign of the pub’s age as pack horses were one of the few means of transporting goods overland prior to the development and introduction of carts and wagons towards the end of the 17th Century. Before this all goods were transported by pack-horse or pulled on sleds. By the same logic, a pub named the Coach & Horses or Wagon & Horses is unlikely to date from before the middle of the 17th Century.
Select victuallers: - 1784-1807 John Champion; 1814/15 Hannah Champion; 1823-26 Robert Clark; 1828/29 John Berriman; 1831-34 Bainbridge Hood; 1840 Robert Terry; 1846-51 John Botterill; 1858-59 William Radge; 1864-72 Jonathan Champion; 1877 H Whitton; 1879-82 Henry Barnes; 1887-99 Enoch Welburn; 1905 Mrs S James; 1915-19 Charles Mathew Lister; 1921-28 Joe Ellarby.
Plough
Flemingate. See the Mariners Arms.
Prince of Wales (Feathers)
Eastgate. Also known as the Three Merry Women?
In 1867 a man was fined for leaving a horse and cart outside the Prince of Wales beer-house in Eastgate and an 1867 trade directory records two beer-houses in Eastgate, one of which was the Oddfellows Arms and the other must have been the Prince of Wales.
George Armstrong allegedly recalled: - “The Prince of Wales Feathers was a beershop in a house at the north side of Trinity Lane and Eastgate corner… this place was nicknamed the Three Merry Women”. As this beer-house was recorded in the local press there can be little doubt of its existence, as for its alleged nickname - this could have been a reference to its sign or board outside that could have shown the three feathers, the emblem of the Prince of Wales.
If this location is correct this would suggest the site of the present Chinese restaurant at the corner of Trinity Lane (No.57 Eastgate) was once a beer-house, and would make it another of Beverley’s Grade II listed buildings that was once a pub (DoE serial No.10/42/87). Or is this property more likely to have been the Rooster mentioned in The Inn Places of Beverley?
Prince’s Feathers
Ladygate. See the Custom House Vaults.
Push Inn
Saturday Market.
There had been a building of some description on the site of the Push Inn since 1717, and records show it was rebuilt in 1755. In later years it was the shop of apothecary and spirit merchant’s James Mowld Robinson. Jan Crowther wrote of Robinson in her book Beverley in Mid-Victorian Times: - “… and surely the most versatile of all – James Mould Robinson, who was a maltster, sold wines and spirits, brewed beer, both for consumption off and on the premises, dispensed medicines and operated as a surgeon, acted as an insurance agent, and sold corn. In 1851 Robinson lived over the shop, but by 1867 he had moved to a more elevated address in North Bar Without.”
Selling beer brewed on the premises, the apparently multi-purpose shop of Mr Mowld-Robinson was a beer-shop of sorts and has by definition been a ‘pub’ since at least 1851. A new dram shop was added in 1869. For its historic interest and surviving details it was made a Grade II listed building in 1950 (DoE serial No.9/326/50). The photograph shown here dates from c.1905 when it was in the occupation of wines & spirits merchants Mills & Sowerby.
The colloquial name “Push Inn” was allegedly taken from a door of the inn and has more recently has led to the name being recognised as its official title. During the 1980s the former wine vaults attached to the Push Inn became a wine bar known as the Grapes Cellars and during renovations in 1993 Beverley conservationists were on their guard as the following extracts from the Hull Daily Mail which followed the story show: -
“Conservationists are calling for safeguards to protect the character of a listed 18th Century town pub earmarked for a £170,000 face-lift. Owners Bass Taverns want to re-do the interior and expand the building, incorporating an adjoining wine shop. The committee says existing windows in the present off-licence, which would be removed under the plans, should be retained, and that shutters and a door to the pub should not be replaced.
They are also calling for the top floor of the building to stay in use instead of being closed off” (14 January 1993) and: - “One of Beverley’s most important buildings is to undergo major rebuilding work … conservationists have hit out at news that the 18th Century Push Inn needs a new entrance to bring it into line with the latest safety regulations. The move comes after permission was granted for the Saturday Market pub to be extended into the shop next door. The alterations to the grade II listed building will involve taking out a window pane, repositioning a wooden pilaster and putting in a new three-panelled door and stone steps” (1st April 1993).
The character of the building was greatly affected by the refurbishment and a chance to protect a vital piece of Beverley’s irreplaceable architectural heritage was missed; evidence that even Listed Building status is not enough protection against the modern developer. Thankfully the late Georgian bow window has survived all the alterations, but a fine mid-18th Century building with a 19th Century pub interior has still been changed beyond repair. Whilst the Push Inn remains popular, it now adds less than it may have to Beverley’s architectural heritage.
Queen's Head Inn
Wednesday Market. Also known as the Hart?
An alehouse known as the “Hart in Wednesday Market” was mentioned in documents of the 16th Century according to the Victoria County History, and this may have been an early reference to the property that became the present Queen’s Head. Another more confident reference to the Queen’s Head is contained in a bundle of documents relating to a “messuage on the east side of Wednesday Market with three adjacent cottages on the north side of Cockpit Hill”. The messuage was passed from Jane Agar widow, of Beverley to James Field in 1716 (DDBC/15/147). In the same bundle was a later description from 1811: - “… messuage and three adjacent cottages one now converted into a brewhouse”. In March 1802 Joseph Cook had bequeathed “the lease of the Queen’s Head in Wednesday Market” to his wife Jane and son John Pearson Cook (DDBC/15/180).
Originally the Queen’s Head would have been a plain red-brick building similar to the remaining properties to its south and sometime after 1899 (an illustration of circa 1899 on page 18 of Britain in Old Photographs shows it as plain brick) the brick was rendered or stuccoed, and a later photograph of circa 1920-25 shows it remained so for some time.
In February 1926 the council approved plans drawn by Beverley architects Whiteing & Reynolds (on behalf of William Darley & Co) “to pull down and rebuild the front portion of the building”. The whole of the building that fronted on to the Market was demolished to the wall of the old kitchen building at the rear - the plans noted that the “kitchen and old buildings beyond” were the only buildings that would remain. The new construction, now gable-end to the street, was in the fashionable mock Tudor, imitation half-timbered design, the ground floor was in red-brick with stone blocking around the window and door, and the glass in all the windows was imitation leaded diamond “quarries”. A central service area served a small front bar and rear smoke room, both entered via a long passage.
The transformation was complete by September 1926, and the two photographs shown here show the building a few years before the works took place, still with the rendered frontage etc. The link below shows a plan of the Queens Head as altered in 1927.
It is difficult to ascertain whether the older buildings that were not demolished remain although the building was recorded as an 18th Century survivor in the survey of 1982 for the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. A closer look may be required but sadly the ground floor has since been altered beyond recognition including the loss of the attractive lower section of the 1926 frontage.
N.B. John Appleby, a smith & victualler was listed in the 1791 directory in “Vizard Lane”. In the 1792 directory he was listed as a smith & victualler in Wednesday Market and as the Queen’s Head is the only pub in the market place on an alley, is it possible he was a “whitesmith” making amongst other things, armour e.g. visors - also known as vizards - hence Vizard Lane? No other references are known re this lane name and it is of course possible that it was an error. The link at the foot of the page opens a map of Wednesday Market showing the location of the pubs that were/are located there.
Select victuallers: - 1716 James Field; 1791-92 John Appleby; 1800 Joseph Cook; 1802 Jane Cook; 1804-15 James Parker; 1840-46 Thomas Clough;1848-64 William Wilson; 1867-72 John Turnbull; 1879-82 James Steel; 1887-97 Edmund Boddy; 1899-1916 Alfred Hardy; 1921 Charles Potter; 1929 George Wild; 1937-39 Charles Burks; 1975 B P Clubley; 1987 Alan Harvie.
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