For the hist
ory of Newland’s pubs up to 1872 see
Pubs of Newland part one – the beginning to 1872.
Newland was fully built up by 1870. Small chairmaking workshops were either becoming, or being replaced by, larger factories. The area was congested, diseased and it flooded regularly.
Although the pubs were in their heyday there were too many of them while the older buildings needed work. Beerhouse licensing had come into magistrates’ control in 1869, and another licensing act of 1872 indicated government policy was focused on reducing the numbers of pubs. After much lobbying, the breweries succeeded in getting legislation passed in 1904 that would pay them and their tenants compensation for the loss of licences.
All Newland’s pubs were, by the end of the 1880s, tied to a brewery either by direct ownership or through a lease. The Rose was tied to the Parsons brewery of Princes Risborough by 1871, the Elephant & Castle was bought at auction by Wheeler’s in 1875, who then bought the Victoria (18) by 1883, Williams of Wooburn was leasing the Royal Oak (13) in 1877 (purchasing it in 1888) and the Frogmore brewery was leasing the Roundabout by 1888.
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| Although the subject of this photograph is clearly Doris’ florists, it also shows the Royal Oak to the left c1935 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
The majority of the licensees now worked hard to attract clubs, societies, organisations, entertainments and sports. Almost every pub had a slate club – these were Christmas and sick pay savings clubs. Football clubs used pubs as their club houses – the West End Recreation Ground was behind West End Road. In the early 20th century the Spread Eagle had Wycombe Phoenix, the Wheel West End Rangers and West End Norfolkians, the Elephant & Castle Wycombe Generals and the Black Swan Wycombe Rovers.
One of the hardest working publicans was Harry Rolfe of the Golden Fleece (8). This pub had become a rough house in the 1880s seeing many landlords come and go. Rolfe, vice-chairman of High Wycombe’s Licensed Victuallers’ Association, took over in 1893 put on dinners, oversaw a slate club, had West End Star Cricket Club use it as their home and hosted a quoits tournament on his private ground. He also hosted a mock council meeting to discuss the issues facing the area.
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| The Golden Fleece is sandwiched between the gasworks on the left and Newland Cottage on the right in the late 1950s (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library)
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The Golden Fleece on 9 November 1899 became, for a night, the Guildhall to elect a Mayor and ‘Corporation for the West End’. Although this long-running event was an entertainment it had serious underlying concerns. The meeting elected all the officials the Wycombe Borough and Corporation would and then discussed the ‘Wants of the Ward’, such as the widening of Desborough Road: if the Corporation did not remove the old cottages they would fall down on their own and a mud scraper should be employed as the road was ankle deep in mud. Of course, the meeting ended with a banquet, cigars and singing.
The 1890s saw brewers looking to alter, rebuild or take their licences elsewhere. 1891 saw the Victoria extended into the property next door. In 1897 Wheeler’s brewery proposed removing the licence of the oldest of Newland’s pubs, the Wheel, to a new pub on Desborough Road, which the magistrates rejected, and they rejected the proposal again in 1898.
The much-discussed widening of Desborough Road had seen proposals for the Rose & Crown (11) to be knocked down and rebuilt further back from the road that was only 13 feet wide at the junction with Mendy Street. The magistrates gave provisional approval in 1892 to move the licence from the original pub building to a new one. The Golden Fleece Guildhall event satirised the road widening in 1899 as it had only just begun after a seven-year delay. The new Rose & Crown (designed by Thomas Thurlow) opened in 1901. There must have been a change of plan in the Borough office as the ‘old’ pub building was not demolished for road widening after all.
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| This curious wide-angle view of the junction of Mendy Street with Desborough Road shows the Rose & Crown c1955 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
Drainage in Newland had been a major issue since the 1870s. Richard Reeves – landlord of the Black Swan – had complained bitterly to the South Bucks Free Press in July 1882 about the ‘foul and filthy ditch’ that runs the length of Newland, ignored by the Borough surveyor, that must surely be a health hazard. Reeves died two years later aged only 42.
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| The former Black Swan, with bay windows, awaiting demolition along with its neighbours in 1934. Birch’s factory is at the far end of Newland Meadow (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
Many of Newland’s properties had only a ‘privy’ flowing into an open ditch until the 1890s. Many of the pubs were no exception. As late as 1896 the Roundabout’s drains were relaid, and in 1897 Wethered’s put in a WC and urinal in the Rose.
The cull of 1903
When the licensing magistrates refused to renew a pub’s licence the business came to an end. Although there had long been an argument (mainly by brewers) that compensation should be paid to owners and tenants of pubs that were refused a licence, it was not until 1904 that a system of compensation was introduced by Arthur Balfour’s Conservative government.
The number of licences not renewed nationally was 1,105 in 1903, and Wycombe was no exception. However, local brewers got together to draw up a list of 12 pubs the licences for which they would be prepared to surrender. The local licensing magistrates accepted the list.
The cull of 1903 took the Wheel (1) and several other pubs in Newland. The building was put up for auction, but did not sell. The last we hear of it is in 1920 when it is advertised for sale, though the building is likely to have been demolished in the clearances of 1935, if not before.
The Elephant & Castle (2) was closed and a Mr E Milner of the Oxford Road bought the building in a private sale after it failed to reach its reserve price at auction. The building survived, finally as a cafe, until the late 1960s when it would have been demolished for the Octagon.
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| The pale-looking former Elephant & Castle is reflected in the river Wye, with the Jolly Butcher to the left, in this 1905 photograph of work to widen Newland Street. Vehicles had a habit of heading straight into the Wye when aiming for Newland Bridge to the far left (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
Two of the pubs in Newland Meadow were also victims of the 1903 cull: the Chair Van and the World’s End.
The Chair Van (10) was typical of properties in the area by the late 19th century. Drainage in the water meadows had been an issue since the houses were built and flooding was a regular occurrence. The foundations were unlikely to have been deep and many houses lacked suitable sanitation by the turn of the 20th century. The Borough Public Works Committee report of January 1903 required Wheeler’s to improve the toilets and, if they didn’t act within a month, the Borough would do the work and send the bill to the brewery. This issue almost certainly led Wheeler’s to offer to surrender the licence. At auction it was sold for £250.
The World’s End (17) belonged to the Parsons brewery of Princes Risborough until 1900 when they sold their business to the Welch Ale Brewery of south London. The pub remained a beerhouse throughout its life, with the Cheese family as licensees for all of its final 24 years.
1903 wasn’t all about closures. The Plough, now owned by Brakspear of Henley, was altered, while the Presbyterian Trustees who owned the Mason’s Arms (5) considered selling the pub, presumably to Wheeler’s, who became the eventual owners.
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| The Mason’s Arms in 1936 is hard up against Newland Chapel, whose trustees owned the pub until at least 1903. By the time this photograph was taken the pub sported the hop leaf trade mark of Simonds brewery on its sign (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
Black Swan fire
On 30 March 1905 a fire at the Black Swan (7) killed licensee, James Perkins’, wife and two children while he was away looking for a new business to run – he had been the landlord for all of two months and was in ill health.
The newspaper report of the following day tells readers that Mrs Perkins and her children were trapped on the second floor of the pub only eight feet from the ground. The second floor of the house could only be reached by ‘a very narrow and awkwardly constructed staircase.’ The pub, on one side, adjoined four cottages with wooden walls, two of which had already been condemned. On the other side was a cottage, originally part of the pub, separated only by a door that had been papered over.
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| The destruction of the Black Swan in April 1905 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Bucks Free Press) |
At 1am the taproom was seen to be alight; Mrs Perkins and her children were calling for help. In the 10 minutes it took for the fire brigade to arrive a rescue attempt had failed and the whole building was in flames. The bodies of Mrs Perkins and her daughter were found in the taproom, while only fragments of her son’s body were discovered by 7am.
The coroner found that all three victims had been burned to death. Mrs Eva Perkins was 39, her daughter Elsie, 17, and son John, 13.
The funeral took place on 3 April. A large cortege took the bodies through the town and up to Mr Perkins’ home village of Tylers Green where they were interred.
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The funeral procession for the victims of the Black Swan fire heads to Tylers Green down Oxford Street on 7 April 1905 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Bucks Free Press)
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Six of the pub's eight rooms were burnt out. Adjacent cottages were damaged. Plans were already in place for rebuilding the pub at the magistrates’ licensing meeting on 15 April. The rebuilding paid particular attention to improving the staircase, the landing and allowing in more light upstairs. The plans were approved. By 27 May the pub had been rebuilt, Mr Perkins carrying on as landlord. He, however, transferred his licence to Herbert Boreham on 10 June.
Surrender
The Spread Eagle (3) appeared to be in difficulty by 1911. The turnover of licensees was high – a common sign that all was not well – and Mr Trinder, the licensee in 1913, had failed to buy an excise licence to sell spirits for several years. Publicans granted a full licence to sell any legal liquor nevertheless had still to buy separate excise licences to sell beer and spirits. The magistrates warned Mr Trinder that a failure to buy an excise licence would mean them not renewing his licence in 1914. In addition, the Watch Committee lobbied for the pub to be closed in both 1913 and 1914. Meanwhile, in 1917, Wheeler’s brewery voluntarily surrendered the licence of the Barley Mow (9).
The Spread Eagle survived until 1920 when the magistrates did not renew the licence as they believed the pub was redundant and should be closed after compensation allowed under the 1904 Licensing Act was paid to both the owner and the tenant. Compensation of £1,237 10s was paid to Wheeler’s and £137 10s to the tenant. The building became the St Paul’s Mission.
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| The former Spread Eagle, now with the sign of St Paul’s Mission, looking towards Newland Bridge and demolition in 1935 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
Further closures
The golden age of pub building was the 1890s and the Rose & Crown of 1901 is an example of that age, but the 1920s and 30s also saw many old pubs altered or rebuilt.
However, there was pressure put upon magistrates throughout this inter-war pub regeneration period by the Free Church Council to close redundant pubs in Wycombe, and in Newland their targets were, after the Spread Eagle’s closure, the Peacock, Black Swan and Jolly Butcher.
In 1928 the magistrates noted that the pubs of the Williams brewery of Wooburn had been acquired by Wethered’s. One magistrate, Mr Rutland, talked at length about his opposition to the tied house system, to great applause from the licensees attending the annual brewster session. An ex-Williams pub, the Black Swan, was refused its licence.
The police report on the Black Swan tells us the following: it had a tap room, entrance hall, parlour and cellar. Upstairs, the club room was used as a bedroom and there was a kitchen and three more bedrooms. The lavatory, despite being indoors, ‘left much to be desired’. A path behind the pub made it difficult for the police to supervise. The licensee, Mr Plested, worked in a factory and his wife ran the pub. No meals were served. It sold two to three barrels of beer a week and 24 dozen bottles of beer. This, said Mr Plested, was a considerable increase since Wethered’s beer replaced those of Williams as ‘customers seemed to prefer it’. And Wethered’s were prepared to spend £1,000 on alterations. Also, the club room was used by the Pig Club when the bed would be removed. Despite an unnamed magistrate fearing a lack of competition with other breweries would affect all Wycombe’s pubs the Black Swan was referred for compensation.
The Black Swan closed at the end of 1928, the compensation fund paying Wethered’s £2,080 and Mr Plested £220. The building, along with the whole of Newland Meadow, was demolished in 1934 as part of the town’s slum clearance programme.
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| The former Black Swan in the process of being demolished (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
The Peacock (12), again a Wethered pub, received the same treatment from the magistrates in 1929. Structurally, it was much the same as the Black Swan. However, while it had been run by the Finch family between 1880 and 1923, it had been poorly run over the last six years. Licensee Charles Southam had been the focus of police attention for two years, being called to domestic and other disturbances. Southam's family had left the pub, he was barely trading, was in debt and could no longer afford stock. In early 1929, Southam was found in a wretched state when police forced entry to the pub and, while he refused to quit, Wethered’s had put in a temporary licensee in his place. Southam was found drunk and homeless in the town centre in March.
Compensation of £2,829 was paid to Wethered’s for the loss of the Peacock’s licence, and £300 to tenant Silvanus Hill, Charles Southam’s replacement. The pub closed on 14 January 1930. The building was acquired by Goodearl Brothers for £1,500 becoming part of their furniture factory.
Rebuilding
Simonds of Reading had acquired Wheeler’s brewery and pubs in 1930. They had a better plan than Wethered for retaining their best-performing pubs. At the 1931 licensing session they offered to surrender the licence of the Victoria and two other pubs, without compensation, if they were to be allowed to invest £80,000 in six pubs, including the Bull on the corner of Bull Lane and White Hart Street. They also pledged to give the building work to Wycombe companies and Wycombe craftsmen.
The main motive for Simonds’ offer was a desire to improve their pubs, both for the customer and tenant, to such an extent that the magistrates would have no reason to refuse licence renewal on the grounds that the facilities were inadequate or that the pub was not needed.
Simonds even had plans for the 1901 Rose & Crown: a central servery – which was to appeal to police’s concerns about being able to see what was going on in a pub – a new ‘bottle and jug department’ – off-sales in other words – an entrance lobby to the taproom for warmth and comfort, better toilets, a ladies’ cloak room, all the while reducing the drinking space. The majority of the alterations were allowed, including those at the Rose & Crown.
Simonds was more radical in its proposals for the Roundabout (14) in 1932. Five cottages adjacent to the old pub in Bridge Street were to be pulled down and a new pub (19) erected behind them designed by Simonds’ architect John Cardwell. This plan enabled Simonds to scratch the council’s back by giving up room for road widening. The new pub opened in April 1933 with three bars and a recreation room, mainly for the air gun club, all lit by electricity.
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| The new Roundabout, now further up Bridge Street c1960 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Wycombe Museum) |
Benskins frustrated
Weller’s Amersham brewery and their pub estate was bought by Benskins of Watford in 1929. In 1930 Benskins proposed alterations to the Golden Fleece. The magistrates rejected the plan. Then in 1933 it was proposed to close the pub and take – or technically ‘remove’ – the licence to a new house at the junction of Mill End Road and Gallows Lane in Sands. The magistrates rejected this plan too, as they did in 1934 and 1938. The obstacle to the move was, initially, that the Hour Glass – opened by Wheeler’s in 1924 – was sufficient for the area, and by 1938 there was also the Castle in Desborough Castle Estate and the Half Moon on Dashwood Avenue.
The Gate (6) was not rebuilt before World War Two, though there were plans in 1930 for the building to be set back from the road to alleviate a dangerous corner. These plans do not seem to have resulted in alterations to the pub. Like many pubs, the Gate was used for inquests. This was usually because pubs had places such as a cellar in which to store a body and rooms large enough for an inquest jury to convene. A curiosity is that while legislation had been enacted stipulating that pubs should not be used for inquests after March 1907, the coroner, Mr Charsley, continued to hold inquests at the Gate until the late 1920s.
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| Looking from the top of the gasworks towards Newland Bridge, the Gate – with a course of white-painted brick between its floors – can just be made out at the end of Carrington Terrace on the corner of Newland Street and a lane leading to the cottage hospital c1954 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Bucks Free Press) |
Another Benskins inheritance from Weller’s was the Jolly Butcher (4) close to Newland Bridge. This beerhouse was in the area included for redevelopment in the Borough council’s five-year plan submitted to government in 1933.
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| The Jolly Butcher, having briefly found life as the Newland Boot Repairing Depot, awaits demolition in 1935 (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by High Wycombe Library) |
Despite the Jolly Butcher receiving its death sentence from the council and Benskins offering to surrender the licence if the Golden Fleece could be moved to Sands, the licensing magistrates instead took the view that its licence should not be renewed in 1933 because it was redundant.
Compensation was not agreed, meaning that the Inland Revenue were left to decide the final sums of £2,209 10s to Benskins and £245 10s to the tenant. The pub closed in February 1934 and was sold to the Borough council in September, together with an adjacent cottage, for £950.
Newland Street, the Meadow and the Narrows were cleared of their slums in 1935.
A modernisation, a move refused and a closure
Away from the slum clearance area, in Denmark Street the Rose (16) beerhouse had dodged closure in 1925, had been modernised in 1934 but then failed to persuade the magistrates to grant a wine licence in 1938. Wine licences for beerhouses were considered particularly important at this time as the number of women in pubs – who, licensees argued, wanted to drink wines such as sherry and port rather than beer – was increasing and women were increasingly taking part in activities such as darts.
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The rebuilt Rose of 1934 pictured in the 1960s. The original pub was a cottage attached to the pair on the left (courtesy of SWOP, copyright managed by Wycombe Museum)
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As part of Simonds’ plans to modernise its estate in Wycombe they applied, in 1936, to move the licence of the Mason’s Arms to a new site at Cressex, roughly where the Turnpike was later to be. After much consideration, the magistrates refused the application.
The final piece of business for Newland’s pubs before World War Two broke out was the closure of the Plough (15) in 1938. The licensing magistrates refused to renew the pub’s licence, deciding that it was redundant. At closure it had a bar, parlour, cellar and kitchen downstairs, and three bedrooms and a club room upstairs. It sold five-and-a-half gallons of beer a week as well as bottled beer, wine and spirits, more than the Mason’s Arms where redundancy had not been considered. The owning brewer, Brakspear of Henley, put in only a formal objection to closure and received compensation of £3,300 while licensee Joseph Gillett received £700. The pub and an adjacent cottage were sold at auction after closure at the end of December.
Sources
Licensing, rating and property records held at The Buckinghamshire Archives.
SWOP (Sharing Wycombe’s Old Photographs).
The Bucks Free Press archive.
Trade directories held at High Wycombe Library and online at the University of Leicester special collections.
Census records accessed online at The Genealogist.
Ordnance Survey maps held at Wycombe Library and online at the National Library of Scotland.
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