History of Warwick Pubs

BEAR. Tallis records this pub as being on Castle Street in 1710 Could this be an early name for 
The Gold Cup presently called the Riccochet?

BEAR INN Tallis also records this pub as once being on High Street but states that it was demolished in 1705.

BEAR AND BACCHUS. The earliest reference to this pub so far located is on a map dated 1806. 
This map also indicated that the owner was Lord Warwick and that the landlord was Henry Chambers. 
The address of the pub was 52 High Street which was on the comer of Brook Street near to 
Lord Leycester Hospital. About the turn of the century the name changed to the BEAR AND BACULUS 
which may be more familiar to some readers as it continued under this name until 1972. 
Sixteen licensees have been associated with this hostelry during the last 144 years of its existence.
Hannah Murrell 1828 - 51 				Patrick Carew 1927 - 1936
Thomas Binham 1862					Arthur Maurice Cooke 193 7 - 1939
George Salmon 1874					Arthur Frederick Gillingham 1940 -  1943
Samuel Harding 1880 - 94					Arthur Edward Bishop 1 945
Henry Simmonds (& co) 1895 - 1905			Victor Albert Redding 1948
WJ Turner 1906 - 07					Albert Fox 1950
John Hen Antrobus 1908 - 1923				Edwin Ballard 1953
W.J. Lawton 1924 - 1927					Patrick J Greer 1956
Although the pub continues to be listed until 1972 the names of the licensees are not given after 1959.  
From 1880 till the 1930's the trade was relatively stable with only four landlords making up the vast 
majority of occupancy during this period. This probably reflects the fact that these were boom years
for the trade and a good living could be made. I wonder how many pubs can claim three consecutive 
landlords in ten years called Arthur!

BEEHIVE. Tallis suggests this was an early name for the Lord Nelson on Emscote Road and that it existed 
under this name in 1851

BELL. Tallis states that this was in a road called Vineyard Lane of which there is no trace today He 
says that it operated between 1677 and 1755 then it was demolished

BIRMINGHAM ARMS.  This pub first appears in 1880 and in 1881 is listed as a beerhouse which would make 
it a fairly basic establishment Its address was 68 Smith Street. There were a maximum of nine landlords 
at this pub.
Thomas Stanley 1880 - 81					F Emery 1888
John J Turner 1882 - 84					W Blackwell 1889 - 96
John Caves 1885						A.E. Wyatt 1897 - 99
Joseph Caves 1886					E. T Davenport 1900 - 05
F Hemery 1887
In 1906 Mr. Davenport is listed in the Street directory at the same address but there is no mention of 
the pub so he must have ceased trading that year.  These records show well the difficulties in sorting 
out true Information from false. To find a John Caves followed the next year by Joseph Caves is unusual. 
To have an F Hemery followed by a F. Emery is just not believable but which is the typing error - or 
was the H a middle name!  It is tempting to speculate that John J. Turner might have been related to 
the W. J. Turner at the previous pub - his brother perhaps? During the time that Mr. Davenport had the 
pub it was used as a pick up point by carriers. In 1900 there were two stopping, one on Mondays, Thursdays 
and Saturdays and a second on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but by the following year only the latter one remained 
and this continued until the pub closed. The carriers were a sort of latter day taxi service that evolved 
from stagecoaches.

BIRM1NGHAM TAVERN. There are two intriguing early references to this pub which was somewhere in the Market 
Square. It first appears in 1828 when the landlord was James Godfrey and two carriers were 
operating from there. The first ran to Harbury and Southam on Tuesdays and Saturdays and was run by 
William Payne while the second, running to Northampton on Tuesdays and Fridays, was owned by George 
Mallard. The only other brief mention found so for was for 1835 when the pub was run by Richard Hawkes. 
The location is currently (1999) "The Warwick Curtain Shop", and the pub probably continued until the late
1920's under a different name.

BLACK BOY. I have so far only seen one early reference to this hostelry which stated that it existed 
at Number 5 Northgate Street during the early 18th Century This street is made up of rather up market 
houses and as such is not really the area you would expect to find a pub

BLACK BOY. Confusingly Tallis also refers to a pub with this same name in 1851 but says that it was in 
Monk Street and goes on to cross reference it with the Lion which existed on the corner of Monk Street 
and Crompton Street It would appear that there are two different pubs with die same name but fortunately 
they did not exist at the same time.

BLACK HORSE. This pub, situated at 62. The Saltisford is a long established coaching inn with its history 
going back at least as far as I 1806 when it is shown on a old town map There have been thirteen recorded 
licensees during the next 160 years
Thomas Woodfield 1806 					Edward Dimes 1828-1851, (reported as Davis in 1833)
William Reynolds 1862 					Hannah Meen 1874 - 1881. 
John H Glover 1882 - 1887 				Robert Millburn 1888 
W.G. Hollier 1889-1893. 					Mrs. A. Hollier 1894. 
Richard Cardall 1895. 					Frederick North 1896. 
Thomas Causer 1897 - 1905. 				Frank Littlewood 1906 - 1911. 
W.J. Power 1912-1920. 					Mrs. Evelyn Wyatt 1921-1928. 
Mrs. Evelyn Griffiths 1929-1966
The names are not given in the trade directories after 1966. Edward Davies was a very busy man, 
in the 1851 census he is listed as not only an Innkeeper but also Maltster and Farmer! 
W. G. Hollier was wrongly listed as Hallier in 1880 but this must be an error, it is also likely 
that he died in 1893 as his wife is listed as licensee the following year. It seems probable that 
Mrs Evelyn Wyatt married again for the second time in 1928 and became Mrs. Griffiths. If this is 
so then she ran this pub for at least 45 years which I believe  makes her the longest continuously 
serving licensee at any pub in Warwick.  W. J. Power who preceeded Mrs Wyatt is almost certainly 
William Job Power who was previously landlord at the Greyhound on Emscote Road.
As was stated at the outset, this was a coaching inn and a large number of carriers must have made 
the place rather like Piccadilly Circus, especially on Saturdays They first are mentioned in 1849 
but by 1886 they were running to Knowle, Rowington, Bedlams Inn (WHERE?), Chadwick End, Beausale, 
Lowsonford, Haseley, Hatton (twice!), Birmingham (also twice!), Hockley Heath, Pinley, Shrewley 
(again twice), Temple Balsall, Baddesley Clinton and Honiley. In later trade directories it appears
that there were two companies operating coaches from the pub. One running up to three on Saturdays,
while a second ran on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It is likely therefore that the destinations mentioned 
were in fact points along rather fewer routes. The carriers continued but gradually dwindled in numbers 
finishing with two on Saturdays in 1916. This date is actually quite late for carriers, as motorised 
transport was getting quite well established by then. 

BLACK RAVEN. A.C.Tallis records a pub by this name being on Northgate Street in April of
1697. As I have pointed out before, Northgate Street does not look like an area that would
have had many pubs and one is tempted to suggest that this may be an earlier name for the Black Boy.

BLACK SWAN HOTEL. The earliest reference to this is from the map of 1788 when it was recorded as being 
owned by the late Mr. Eborall. The 1806 map shows it on the south side of Jury Street owned by John Tomes 
but with a landlord by the name of John Hudson. Tallis in his survey of Warwick pubs in 1880 recorded this 
pub as existing from 1788-1887. Field in his "Historical & Descriptive Account of the Town and Castle of 
Warwick" written in 1815 described it as one of the Principal inns with a new and good front'. Kemp in his 
"History of Warwick and its People" in 1906 states that on Jury Street 'No. 24 the office of the Warwick 
and Warwickshire Building Society and the next house below were formerly a hotel called the Black Swan'. 
These offices became the headquarters of the Head of England Building Society until quite recently when 
it was closed. So it is possible to identify this former hotel precisely.

BLEEDING HEART He records this as being at 3 Bridge End in 1806.  This is unexpected
as this now rather well to do area seems an unlikely location for a
public house.

BOAT This apparently existed in 1883 run by Joseph Mander, but nothing further is known about it.

THE BOWLING GREEN. This Family and Commercial Hotel was at 3 Bowling Green Street and first appears on a 
1788 map of Warwick when it was owned by Thomas Collins. On a later map of 1806 the owner was given as 
William Little while the landlord was John Cove. Unlike many other pubs in Warwick, this one has had an 
unusually high number of licensees. Twenty-four licensees are recorded between 1806 and 1956! Names are 
not given for more recent years but the pub continued to be listed until 1964. This pub was later 
incorporated into the Westgate Hotel which in turn closed In the late 1980s. It is an empty shell 
to this day. It should be noted that by 1806 the New Bowling Green had appeared on St. Nicholas Church 
Street and the original one was often known as the Old Bowling Green. Run by Swithin Hawkes in 1833.

BRICKLAYERS ARMS Tallis states that this pub was on Humphris Street in 1851.

BRITANNIA. This pub was originally listed at 11 Emscote Place in 1874 but due to street renumbering in 
1882 it was 'moved' to 29 Emscote Road. The licensees listed are Charlotte Timms 1974 - 1891; 
John Gregory 1892-1902; F. Greenway 1903 - 1905.  This pub was listed as a Beerhouse in 1881 
which is the classification used for very basic 'spit and sawdust' houses. It seems likely that it 
actually closed down during 1905 as Mr. Greenway is listed as living at the same address as a private 
citizen in 1906. John Greenway had to supplement his income by being a wheelwright and shoeing smith 
and F. Greenway was not finding things much easier ten years later as he was also a wheelwright.

THE BROWN BEAR. The Brown Bear listed at 26-Market Place has had a variety of names, all variations on 
a theme. In 1888 it was called the Bear Hotel, in 1891 The Brown Bear Hotel and in 1894 The Brown Bear 
Inn. The site of this hotel is now occupied by a dry cleaning shop, a greengrocer and a florist. 
It first appears in 1806 and is last mentioned in 1912.It has been run by:-
John Plant 1806 (he was also the owner); 
Thomas Kiss 1828 - 1829 & 1833; 				John Lamb 1835; 
Richard Glenn 1849 - 1851; 				William Henry Hawkins 1862; 
Theophilus Cooke 1874; 					Isaac Wood 1880; 
Charles Fairweather 1881 - 1882; 	
Dutton and Co. (this was the Warwick Brewery situated in Wallace St.) 
C. Peabody (manager) 1884 - 1886, 			W. Kitchener 1887; 
T.R. Hunt 1888; 						Jason Raby 1889 1901; 
Mrs. Raby 1902; 						Albert H. Harris 1903 1908; 
W.J. Allitt 1909-1 					T.V. Kirby 1910 - 1911.
This hostelry was one frequented by the carriers that provided the basic public transport of the time. 
In 1829 there was a 'car' each day at  1 AM to Leamington. William Dance ran a carrier every Thursday 
to Bidford. On Saturdays John Baldwin ran one to Ilmington, George Burn ran one to Rowington and 
Thomas Bradford operated to Southam. In 1830 there was an 'accomodation Car' from Leamington every day 
at 10.45, 3.15, and 6.45pm. The pub continued to be an important centre for carriers for another
50 years with regular services to most local villages and towns and weekly long distance routes to 
Birmingham, Banbury and other destinations. In 1893 the decline set in.  Carrier services tailed off 
as other forms of transport became fashionable. From 1900 till 1910 there were two running every 
Saturday and the very last fling was in 1911 when the Saturday service was joined by a Tuesday and 
Saturday route.  This was the last mention of carriers, at least from this pub.

THE BULL. There is one reference to this pub in Kemp's History Of Warwick And Its People" 1905 where 
it describes a lofty handsome stone built house on the North West corner of the Market Place which 
stands on the site of an old inn called the Bull. This is probably referring to the Abbotsford.

THE BULLS HEAD. A 1788 map shows it on an island by the West Gate and a reference in Tallis says it 
existed from 1788 till 1876 when it was demolished. The 1806 map shows it opposite Bowling Green Street 
with the Proprieters listed as Eyres of Radford and the occupier as John Rushton. In 1828 John Woodward was 
Licensee. He was followed by Charles Harris in 1849, Eliza Harris in 1862 and George Samuel Daniels in 1874.