Lost Town Centre Pubs

[tozzin]

The character's in this fictional tour of our lost pubs are from my own imagination apart from the names of the pubs mentioned and its  licencees.

 

 

“Dus`t Tha` Fancy A Pint?”

 

Hello again, well the time has soon past since our last jaunt through the lost pubs of old Sheffield Town, our crawl today centres around Fitzalan Square, you’ll be surprised just how many pubs were around this area. Our time machine is set for 1856, a bit further back than usual but why not. Just an hour ago I summoned a cab to go to the Workhouse to pick up my two pauper friends, Mr Dawson & Mr Sorsby, the cab has cost me half a crown but they are worth it. As they arrive, they are excited little tinkers and we enter the Golden Ball at No 12 Forge Lane, in 1872 this lane was renamed Shude Lane, this old pub was open in 1796 and at the time of our visit, according to my Whites 1856 Directory the landlord was Samuel Walker, this pub reflects the area and the times we are in, sawdust on the floor, a hotch-potch of customers some are on the point of drunkeness, the Sheffield twang at this time has to be really listened to be understood, my two friends think its Polish! Leaving the Golden Ball we just cross over Forge Lane and enter the Golden Lion at No 3, the Golden Lion was the heraldic sign of King Henry Ist and the Percy family who were the Dukes of Northumberland, at this period of time its surprising just how many ordinary townsfolk are quite knowledgeable on the heraldic signs of the gentry, anyway our landlord is John Staniforth and he keeps good order in the pub, this pub was built in or around 1822 and like the Ball they were swept away around 1879, after that year I cant find any entry’s in my later directories for these two pubs.
On leaving here we walk up Forge Lane a few yards and turn to our right into Shude Hill  (Shude comes from a word meaning barley husks) and visit the Old English Gentleman at No 12, not named after me I may add, this is another old pub, it was open in1796 and by 1917 it had gone, the present licencee is George Wilkinson, a stocky man who keeps a very good pint and like the others in our crawl the pubs are very basic, sawdust, spittoons etc. Are the order of the day, but the brass is gleaming in the gaslight. Wiping the froth of my top lip, we are off to our next port of call which is the Little Barrel, as we leave the Gentleman we turn left walk up the road and the Barrel is on our left at No 40 Little Pond Street, our host is Albert Humphrey, a very jovial man who greets every customer as he has known them for years, most of which he has, this little pub had a licence in 1818 and again after 1879 I cant find no record of this pub, one thing you notice about the beers in these pubs the difference in tastes, its quite refreshing.
On leaving the Barrel we cross over the street and enter The Rose at No 29, I cant find any info on this little pub but I can find an entry as a beerhouse at No 29 and it was run by Elizabeth Cole, so less said the better on this little watering hole, if anyone has any information on this elusive pub I would love to have it. Our next pub is The Tankard at No 27,its licence is held by Mr Thomas Booth, we are  still on Little Pond Street on the right hand side of the road, its now getting pretty busy on here you cant believe the numbers of carts being pulled by great big horses, it’s a very crowded on the pavements too with children and mothers looking for husbands so they can get some money from them before its drank away, the Tankard was spanking new in 1825 and by the late 1870s it had ceased to be, redevelopment for the General Post Office.
We leave the Tankard, trying not to bump into any of the crowds, keep to our right and the Beehive comes into view at No 13, in 1856 its classed as a beerhouse, so it must have acquired its name a few years later and by the turn of the century or later it had been demolished for the Post Office to be built,  on our visit the master of the hostelry is Henry Johnson who exudes authority my two poorhouse plebs will not look him in the eye. Finishing our half’s of best ale we bid adieu to the customers and leave to go to No 1 which is the address of the Black Swan Hotel describes as a wine & spirit vaults, the landlord is a Mr John Slingsby, this pub is one of the most frequented on Little Pond Street and you can understand why, clean glasses, clean brass-work, no broken gas mantles if fact its quite the bees knees. This is the last pub on Little Pond Street, from here we turn right at the side of the pub and head for Sycamore Street just a hop, step and a jump away and we find The Prince Of Wales at No 38, the landlord is a very friendly Irishman called Daniel O’Donohoe, a man full of stories of the old country, he certainly kissed the blarney stone, we could spent more time in here drinking his porter but we press on, not before visiting the back to ease ourselves. On leaving we have to be extra vigilant as the strong beer is taking us over and we wouldn’t want to knocked over by a carrier and fall in the horse droppings, we walk directly to Flat Street cross over to the right-hand side of the street and enter No 13 which is The Falcon Inn, easing the thirst of the thirst of the hard working men and women of the town from 1825 but it was swept away by the building of the G.P.O., our landlord is Bernard Isele, strange name and a demeanour to match, “nowt as strange as folk“, the falcon was the favoured choice of hunting bird by the kings & queens of England for centuries Queen Elizabeth had one incorporated to her coat of arms. We leave the Falcon and even though there’s a pub just across the road we prefer to leave that one for a while and return later, we keep on the right and at the corner we go down Bakers Hill to the Palace Inn at No 6, the chap holding the licence is John Ibbotson, this dirty little pub was open around 1833 and this one suffered the same fate but It wasn’t the Post Office that took the site as in 1879 a Mr John Cowlishaw & son had moved into the premises and they were Pearl Handle and Cutlery Merchants, so the Palace Inn had a very short life. Bakers Hill as the name implies, was the site of the Town bakehouse where for a few pennies you could bring your dough and have it baked into loaves, the hill also held bread shops, up to 1849, Bakers Hill wasn’t the one we see today it actually ran to the bottom of Norfolk Street, Mr William Barker seems to have been the last baker in Bakers Hill, it was on Bakers Hill where Redgates had a works making Perambulators. On leaving the Palace we cross over the road and go in the Three Horseshoe's at No 92, Norfolk Street but when looking at the map it confirms that Bakers Hill but there you go, this pub was open in the early 1800s but Mr Schicklgruber had one of his Junkers bombers wipe it out in 1940, were surprised to find our host is a lady, Elizabeth Wheeldon, it would have been nice for this old pub to have survived but it wasn’t meant to be, we bid goodbye to Elizabeth and head for Jehu Lane, we walk up to our right and on to the lane to seek the Blue Bell at No 13, the licencee is Thomas Colley but he’s not in when we call, lots of people seem to think Jehu Lane is a corruption of Jew Lane which it isn’t, in A Description Of The Town Of Sheffield written in 1832 by Joseph Woolhouse, he writes “ Jehu Lane was always a very narrow, dirty street. The reason as I have read of the name of Jehu being given to this lane was when Mary Queen of Scots was going to the Castle from the Manor Lodge through this lane was then the road. The Coachman in driving thro` this lane used to this expression to his horses “Jehu! Jehu!” and to this day it continues to be called that”, you have to keep in mind this area was much steeper than it is today and I also suspect the “Coachman may have shouted “Jee-up” which eventually became Jehu. I don’t think this explanation is true as the easiest route to The Manor Lodge for Mary Queen of Scott’s would have been down Dixon Lane and over the bridge and on up to the Manor Lodge, perhaps it was the carters plying their trade that gave Jehu Lane its name by urging the horses to “Gee-Up” 
Leaving the Blue Bell, we turn right and walk further on Jehu Lane to the Nags Head, this pub can be traced back to 1790 and was demolished around the 1890s, William Topham is the landlord and the pub is very busy because of the Market which stands a few yards away on Market Place and King Street, the Nags seems to have a couple of addresses, besides Jehu Lane its mentioned as Nags Head Yard and Haymarket, its advertised as Nags Head & Billiard Rooms, we’ve no chance of a game, to many waiting, after a swift tankard we leave and walk across Jehu Lane to the Bricklayers Arms at No 8 Jehu lane, this is another old 18th century pub mentioned in records in the1790s, again its packed and you get a few weird smells as the slaughterhouse workers pop in for a pint, this pub like them all on Jehu Lane was swept away when Fitzallan Square was developed in 1893, Jew Lane was what you see now, it was a passageway to the rear of properties on Jehu Lane. Leaving the Bricklayers we  walk across the spare ground towards The Bell, on Market Street, again another old pub serving the folk of the town in 1796, The licencee is Mrs Fanny Berry, in around the late 1880s this pub was closed and after the new square was developed its licence was transferred to the new Bell where you see it today. Market Street was where the White Building and the old Marples stand, on leaving the Bell we cross over Market Street to the Cup at No 7, the landlord is Mr John Fisher, this pub was open for business in 1825 and by the 1870s it was closed as in 1879 Nurseryman Fisher & Son were running their business from this address, in the 17080s roughly parallel with Mulberry Street stood the slaughter houses and the from where Change Alley finished down to the end of Commercial St  this area was called the Swine Market, all gone now, on leaving the Cup we turn to our right and skip a few yards to The Star Inn at No 2 Market Street, information on this pub is very sparse even going back to 1833, so it could be it was built in the 18th century and eventually became a wine & spirits merchants property, but at the address, No 2, I can find a John Marples Wine & Spirit Merchant, he was the first owner of The Market Street Wine Vaults in 1888 and the licencee was Edward Marples so you can understand why it was nicknamed “Marples”, I’ve omitted this pub from our crawl as it wasn’t built in 1856.
Moving on we leave and enter The Elephant Vaults at No 2 Norfolk Street, our landlord is George Parvin, a previous landlord Mr Thomas Bell was a coachman and guard on the Sheffield to Louth mailcoach, it was in this lovely old pub where I met my wife Mary in 1964, Aah happy days, it was open in 1818 and was closed in in the late 1960s and a Halfords car spares shop was built in its place. After leaving this temple of love we cross Norfolk Street to No 3 Norfolk street where the Ball Inn stands, this is another pub that’s hard to research, it was in business in 133 and by the 1860s it was used by Robert Taylor as a Hairdressers, Taylor & Taylor ancestor? We leave the Ball turn to our left and enter No  5 where the Norfolk Arms sits, again this pub is very busy, full of customers who are full of the falling down water, there’s a raucous commotion in the snug where two women are having an altercation, our licencee is Mrs Hannah Blake and she’s quick to eject the two ladies, this pub was open in 1825 and it had gone by 1879, we drink up and leave to go to our next port of call which is The Cross Daggers which is on Cross Daggers yard, just few yards back down Norfolk Street on the right hand side, this yard was also known as the fruit market, in the 18th century Anne Asline owned the pub, by 1791 Robert Sandy held the deeds, in 1829 Richard Greenwood had it and by the early 1840s it was closed as a pub and became a warehouse.
We leave the site of the Daggers, no drink here, we walk back to Norfolk Street turn right and up to No 16 Norfolk Street where we find the King And Miller, it was selling beer in 1816 and by 1893 Staines & Evans Wool Merchants were using the premises, our landlord at the time of our visit is George Goodwin, another great old pub, sawdust, gas lights perfect,   We leave the King and Miller and walk on Change Alley towards the site of what will be the Mitre that will stand here in 1871, we cross over Change Alley to our last call and its at the Kings Head Hotel that has the No 3 - No13, its described as a family and commercial hotel and restaurant, this hotel was claimed to go back to 1542 and it was bombed in the Blitz, makes a change from the council destroying our old buildings. This is where  novelist Charles Dickens stayed on his visits to the town.
Well that’s it my friends another fine walk into our rich history, just remember where ever you walk the history of the city is just beneath your feet. We will return to Norfolk Street next time, cheers.

The multi coloured building shown on High street maybe the Grey Horse, it might even been the Blackamoors Head, Confirmation needed.