“Dus Tha Fancy A Pint” Haymarket to Bridge Street

[tozzin]

“Dus Tha Fancy A Pint”
Haymarket to Bridge Street

 

Today’s walk back into Sheffield’s fascinating pub history takes us from our meeting point on Commercial Street on what is a light summers evening, were facing down Haymarket, on the left is the  first pub we visit and its the Fitzalan Vaults, this little gem was built in 1786 and it closed around 1930, after a swift half we cross over the road to call into the Yellow Lion which stands at No 12 Haymarket, this pub opened just a year after the Vaults on 1787 but closed a couple of years before the Vaults did in 1927,in 1893 the landlord was a Mr William Riley, on March the 10th 1852 a certain John Drake killed a Mr Laurence Bertie at the Yellow Lion, the coroners verdict was Manslaughter. From this pub in the late 1780s  Mr Robinsons horse cart left once a week to Middleton but the day is not certain. Just down from the Lion at No 26 stands The Star, this pub was opened in 1780 but its closing date eludes me but it may be safe to assume that pubs on this particular outing that closed within a year or so of each other was because of road widening schemes. Just further down on the left hand side at No 13/15 stands The Brunswick, this pub was opened in 1856 and resisted closure up to 1975, many of Sheffield drinkers remember this old girl with fond memories. Crossing over again onto the right hand side, stands No 14 on the corner of Dixon lane, this is the Tontine built in 1786 and was closed in 1850,(we will have a drink in the Tontine Tap a bar for non-residents) the Norfolk Market Hall was built on its site, now Wilkinson’s store occupies the site. The Tontine was an Italian idea where a group of business men put up a certain amount of money into a chosen venture and the survivor of them all inherited the final money accrued by their venture, this is more or less how the Tontine was built, £5,000 was invested into the hotel and the money was divided up when the hotel was demolished as investors were still alive, it had its own brewery, accommodation for guests and staff plus stabling for fifty horses, it was a very big venture, every morning except Saturday at seven o’clock the Tontine coach left for London by way of Rotherham, Worksop, Newark, Grantham, Stamford etc. to the Saracens Head in Snow Hill, it returned every evening at nine o’clock except Monday.
Our next watering hole is over the road just opposite the Tontine and it’s the Sun Tavern  or the No12 as it was also known by its clientele, the pub is still there , this pub was opened in 1790 and managed to stay open until 1955 and like the Brunswick it was well loved and used. Crossing over the road we are now on Waingate, No 6 to be precise and this stop is the Royal Hotel, this was originally built in 1797 as the Reindeer by Godfrey Fox who became the gaoler of the Debtors prison in King Street, in later life he ran the Royal Oak also in King Street, at No 27, this establishment closed in 1928 again it was a very large Hotel, the business must have been there as this hotel, the Tontine and a further one on the corner of King Street were doing very good trade.(I mention that any landlord or landlady I mention for 1893 is correct as I have a Kelly’s Directory for that year)  Keeping on the right hand side of Waingate me enter the Rose & Crown also known as the Brittania, that stood at No12, this pub was the second oldest on Waingate being built in 1765 and it closed its doors in 1926, in the late 1800s Mr George Topliss was the landlord, he held the licence from 1888 to 1895. After leaving the Rose & Crown just a few yards down on the same side we walk in to No16, the Coach & Horses this was built in 1825 and closed after a somewhat short life in 1894, after its doors were closed it was re-opened as a tailors, William Foster & Son refitted it as a shop, another tailors in his portfolio, his empire consisted of shops at No’s 10-12-14 High Street, 126-128 West Bar, this shop is now Lynne’s Warehouse, from where she sells furniture, 22 South Street (The Moor) and he had a further shop at Bridgegate Rotherham. Just a few steps down from our last pub is The Anvil at No16, this small pub was opened in 1826 and lasted just one hundred years, in 1893 Mr George Crosby was the landlord, after a swift half we are off again to the Old White Hart just across Waingate at No 14, this pub was the oldest from Haymarket to Bridge Street, it was opened in 1756 and closed its doors in 1894, I believe it was later re-opened as a Drapers. Just a step away on the same side of Waingate at No 6 is The Barrel, it was opened for drinkers in 1833 and sold its last drink in 1898, this pub was just a beerhouse but it was the drink of the working class. Crossing over to the right hand side we go into the Bull & Mouth, this pub was opened for business in 1790 and after being rebuilt in 1928 it is still open, the name comes from the 16th century when Henry VIII blockaded the mouth of the Boulogne Harbour Mouth and the English being what we are didn’t bother with all that so we shortened it to Bull & Mouth, this pub has its own entry in Sheffield Wednesdays history, as in Spring 1891, a winger called Fred Spiksley who was a inhabitant of Gainsborough, had been to Accrington and he’d agreed to sign for them but this is where fate stepped in, on his way back home he missed his train so he was stranded here, he got lodgings for the night and to pass the time away next day until his train was due at Victoria station he went for a drink in the Bull & Mouth and he bumped into an Owls player called Fred Thomson, who asked him to delay signing for Accrington while he spoke to Mr John Holmes who at the time was the President of Wednesday, Fred was offered an extra ten shillings plus a job at the Sheffield Telegraph, he became the Hero of the Olive Grove and he became an England international. After leaving the Bull & Mouth, the smell near this pub was disgusting because of the Killing Shambles that stood along side, in Summer it was overpowering with blood, the contents of cow and sheep stomachs were just washed into the Don along with other un-usable offal, if these beasts were not placed in a Clemming House, their stomachs, bowels & bladders would still be full and would create an awful stinking mess.
Keeping on the left we now step into Bridge Street and we get a drink in the Three Whitesmiths to clear our mouths, this pub opened its doors in 1791 and it closed in 1898 but its not listed in my Kelly’s 1893  Directory so it could have closed a few years before the date of 1898, thirst slaked and the taste of the Shambles gone its across bridge street and into the Bay Childers, its not really known why this name was given to pubs, one explanation is of a certain Sir Hugh Childers had a Racehorse called Flying Childers around 1740/1 and it won lots of its races, its not known whether it was a bay or what but in my Sheffield Public Houses by Michael Liversidge he mentions(Quote) “that the name could also come from the Flemish term for Bay, a sort of cloth, Childers is an old English Dialect word meaning “To Bring Forth” so could it be an old weavers term” You decide which suits you.  Just across the road on the corner with Castle Green at No 5 is the Bridge Tavern / Inn opened in 1797 and didn’t close until the 1960s, when the area was redeveloped and the South Yorkshire Police built their headquarters. We cross over to Our penultimate pub, its the Masons Arms  at No 17, just a few yards on from the Childers, this pub was built in 1833 but I cant discover when it ceased trading, this was demolished to extend the Tenants Exchange Brewery, I suppose you cant complain lose one pub but gain a bigger brewery.
Our last Public House is The Artillery Man, this opened its doors in 1833 but again its closure date is unsure. Where the South Yorkshire Police headquarters now stand, there stood the William Henry Birks Lady’s Bridge Brewery, established in 1791 as Nanson's & Co, then taken over by Duncan Gilmour in 1900, who then used the Lady’s Bridge Brewery for all their brewing, it was taken over by Tetley’s who used it up to 1956 when it was demolished.
I hope you’ve enjoyed another walk back to see some of Sheffield’s lost pubs. It’s a crying shame that we’ve lost so many centres of entertainment, discussion, laughter & tears, wives and husbands first met, great friendships were formed in these public houses, some of them became infamous during the Sheffield Gang wars but on the whole they were very orderly places.
 

[Edmund]

"Crossing over the road we are now on Waingate, No 6 to be precise and this stop is the Royal Hotel, this was originally built in 1797 as the Reindeer by Godfrey Fox"

In 1857 the landlord was Lyas Bishop, who retired in October of that year, after six years. The new landlord would be Mr Sam Wallis of the Norfolk Arms in Glossop.

[tozzin]

8 minutes ago, Edmund said:

"Crossing over the road we are now on Waingate, No 6 to be precise and this stop is the Royal Hotel, this was originally built in 1797 as the Reindeer by Godfrey Fox"

In 1857 the landlord was Lyas Bishop, who retired in October of that year, after six years. The new landlord would be Mr Sam Wallis of the Norfolk Arms in Glossop.

Despite the harshness of the times, what a great prospect looking into the distance.

[tozzin]

I’m sorry but i love this painting.

[Ponytail]

Agree it's a lovely painting but think there may be a bit of artistic licence.

Nisbet must have spent some time in Sheffield, he did etchings (probably others) of Christ Church Pitsmoor and the New Mortuary Chapel, General Cemetery. Flockton & Sons the Architects. 

[Ponytail]

Waingate, 1915-1925, east side between Exchange Street and Lady's Bridge. No. 12 Rose and Crown Public House (also known as Britannia), right, Tennant Brothers, Exchange Brewery and W and T Avery in background. s20301