More Pubs
These pubs are still open but do not appear in the book, ‘The Pubs of Hastings & St Leonards’. Research is ongoing, so look out for future updates. Contributions welcome!
Ashburnham Arms, 104 Ashburnham Road, Ore
The pub sign (see gallery) shows the Arms of the Asburnham family. The Ashburnhams were local aristocratic landowners with an estate at Ashburnham and interests in the Sussex iron industry. At least two of them were former Members of Parliament for Hastings. Others held the post of Cinque Ports barons and at least one was sometime Mayor.
The arms are made up of ‘Gules, a fesse, between six molets argent’. A fesse is a broad horitzontal band across across the middle of a shield, a molet is a five pointed star- a cadency mark of a third son and a Gule is a throat or gullett.
Bar Diva
Formerly the Silverhill Tavern, 8 Silverhill Terrace which opened in 1876. In 1915 the landlord was fined £5 for selling a bottle of stout to a soldier, ‘for his wife’, during restricted hours. This was a big fine and seems preposterous. But under the Defence of the Realm Act anyone ‘giving, selling, serving or treating’ any member of the army or navy could be fined £100 or get six months or both.
In the 1920s there was friction between the temperance and prohibitionist movement and the licensed victuallers. In 1926 the landlord of the Silverhill Tavern attempted to bring both sides together locally. But he noted facetiously that his women customers were becoming more pious. ‘They say grace before blowing the froth off a glass of stout,’ he said.
Belmont Inn, 68 Harold Road
Belmont ‘Radical Smoker’ held in 1900
Bull Inn, Bexhill Road
Comet, Harley Shute Road
Crown House (The), 57 Marina, St Leonards
A blue plaque tells us that The Crown House, formerly Victoria House, was the first building in the new town of St Leonards on Sea. It dates from 1828 when it was the home of James Burton the town’s creator. In 1834 Princess Victoria stayed here before she became Queen.
Today we tend to think that prefabrication is a modern idea but surprisingly the Crown House was prebuilt in Regents Park, London and then transported via the Thames and the sea to St Leonards where it was erected.
In the Second World War between August 1940 and July 1944 the Crown House was bombed five times and in 1949 it was reported to be ‘in a severe state of repair’. The lead flashing and gutters had been stolen and the roof was in a shocking condition. Composite roofing put on during the war had perished and the original thirteen foot chimney was leaning and dangerous. Hastings Council debated its future and at one time considered it as a possible Museum of the Regency and Victorian periods. They asked the Minister for Town and Country Planning to ‘remove this Regency Villa from the scope of the Development Order for the Marina’. A preservation order was refused until 1952 when the Council gave its private owner, who also owned other bomb damaged property at 11 White Rock and Regency Mansions, three months to repair or demolish the building. The building was finally repaired in August of that year.
It was then reoccupied and became a local office of the National Assistance Board until the 1960s. It then became the Tudor Rose Social Club. It was refurbished in 1970 and was reported as being ‘covered in scaffolding’.
In the early 1970s the social club was taken over by a ‘consortium’ of employees from the Ponswood industrial estate who later purchased the lease of the Golden Hind, Havelock Street. It became the Crown House public house around 2002.
Dolphin Inn (The), 11-12 Rock-A-Nore Road
The Dolphin Inn dates from 1798 and since that time has served the local fishing community well. During the smuggling era it was a very busy pub being the smugglers first port of call. Over time the Dolphin became one of the most notorious pubs in the Old Town and fishing quarter and riotous behaviour by the drinkers was often reported.
In 1892 the landlord Daniel Gibbs was something of an entrepreneur. He had a coal business in All Saints Street including a horse and cart scales and bags, which he passed onto his son. He also had a fishing smack which he bought for his nephew for £25. With the Dolphin pub as well he went bankrupt.
Today it is a relatively quiet and friendly pub still used by the fishing community. The
two bars are complete with nautical and maritime bric-a-brac including portraits of local fishermen. There is a six prize meat raffle on Sundays at 3pm and ‘free entry for the bungie jump during Hastings carnival week’. The weekly quiz night is popular and has been the subject matter of at least one piece of local journalism.
It takes its name from a legend, a piece of fishing mythology which says that in days gone by Dolphins were thought of as fishermen friendly animals. It was commonly believed that they wound themselves around a boat’s anchor cable thus stopping the anchor from dragging and giving the boat extra stability.
Dragon Bar, 71 George Street
Duke (The), Duke Road, Silverhill
This pub opened in 1870 as the Duke of Wellington although the etched glass front windows show a bearded face and the date 1895. The name of the pub and the road was changed to The Duke in 1959 as there were two other pubs with the same name in Hastings.
One evening in 1871 Francis Weeks a tailor of Morghue Terrace got involved in a game of five card cribbage with three others in this pub. After playing and losing for some hours he realised that he was being swindled when he noticed the landlord ‘look over my hand and made signs to the other players’. They played all night until 6am and in total he lost 30s and beer money. The next day, after sleeping, he complained to the police and charges were brought of ‘felonious theft’ which could not be proved in court. Instead the landlord was charged with ‘unlawful gaming’ and ‘abetting the fraudulent obtaining of money by playing cards’. He was fined £5.
In 1883 the landlord was fined for serving out of hours. He said: ‘I thought the beer was for some excursionists’ i.e. Bona Fide Travellers.
In 1910 the Duke Slate Club paid out £1.10s 6d to every member.
Duke of Wellington, 28-29 High Street
Known locally as the ‘Welly’ this is a medium sized, bright, two bar traditional pub in the heart of Old Town. It is situated opposite the site of the Old Hastings Bank founded in 1791. It was originally one of four beer houses situated in the Breeds Brewery complex. The remains of the brewery can be seen behind the Duke. It opened in 1872(?).
On the walls are several pictures of the Duke of Wellington who after defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 became a national hero. Subsequently his name became one of the most popular British pub names second only to that of Nelson himself. This is an ironic. Years later as Prime Minister he was criticised for his policy on beer houses.
In 1806 the Duke of Wellington was stationed in Hastings with a brigade of infantry and had his headquarters at 54 High Street. In the same year he became Member of Parliament for the town of Rye.
In the early 1900s the Duke of Wellington Benefit Society met regularly to organise sick, unemployment and death benefits for ‘local working men’ and for social occasions and dinners. This was a small society offering membership ‘free of entrance money to those passed by the doctor’.
During the First World War when pubs were not allowed to serve soldiers, two local girls Edith Carter and Fanny Wilson were charged with ‘procuring drink for soldiers’. They went into the Wellington and purchased two quarts of beer for two soldier boyfriends. The four of them were caught drinking it on the grass at the top of the High Street. For this offence under the Defence of the Realm Act, they received a brutal six months imprisonment in Lewes Goal with hard labour.
In August 1916 the landlord Albert Hollebon was conscripted into military service. He appealed to the Hastings Tribunal and was granted three months exemption. A year later he was still appealing. He was finally called up in 1917 although there was no one else to run the pub. He was exempted for a final three months and then went to war against his will.
The Prince Albert, Rock-A-Nore Road closed in 1954 and its licence was transferred to the Duke of Wellington which had been a beer house since 1872(?).
Christine and Joseph Hector Francis were the licensees from 1967 to 1970. It was then a Fremlin’s pub and offered bed, breakfast and dinner for £10 per person per week. Joseph Francis was known as Cornish Joe and served home-made pasties on ‘Teddy Oggy nights’ for 10d [4p].
Harrow Inn, 828 The Ridge, St Leonards
In the early nineteenth century Baldstow was a small hamlet. The original Hundreds Inn now the east lodge of Beaufort Park was replaced by the Harrow Inn in the 1820s when the road through the park was diverted.
Imperial (The), 119 Queens Road
The Imperial was built on one of seventy-eight plots of land put up for sale in the locality in the 1860s. It was granted its first licence in 1869 and the first licensee was William Halloway. Among the first customers were the thirsty workers from the gasworks across the road and also the employees of the nearby slaughter houses, for the area was still semi rural. In its first year a public meeting was held at the pub by local residents, to discuss the possible removal of the slaughter houses. It was thought that they were a great nuisance and an annoyance to ladies and invalids going to St Andrew’s Pleasure Ground (now Alexander Park). Cattle on the roads, the boiling of offal, pig keeping and slaughtering affected property values. The Hastings Corporation was lobbied.
Today the pub is situated opposite Morrison’s supermarket once the site of St Andrew’s church, where a century ago Robert Tressell, the socialist author, decorated the chancel. He also decorated the main bar of the Imperial.
The licensee in 1926, Captain Vincent Norris(?), moved to the then fashionable Palace Hotel at White Rock.
This local has/had a display of local historic photographs including one of Tressell’s murals in St Andrew’s church now restored in Hastings Museum.
John Logie Baird (The), 29 Havelock Road
The Logie Baird is a Wetherspoons chain pub noted for its competitively priced real ale and for its interest in local history. No problem in Hastings of course and Wetherspoons chose the name of James Logie Baird a Scottish engineer, for the name of the pub.
In the 1920s Logie Baird lived around the corner in Queen’s Road where he created the first ‘image transmission’ or in other words the first television pictures.
In 1926 he gave the world its first demonstration of television before fifty scientists, in an attic room in central London. A year later his invention was demonstrated over 438 miles between London and Glasgow and in 1928 between London and New York. He also gave the first demonstration of both colour and stereoscopic television.
His son Malcolm Baird recently visited Hastings and said in an interview that if his father had realised how television would eventually turn out, he wouldn’t have bothered!
London Trader (The), 4 East Beach Street
This promenade pub, which is popular with day visitors and locals alike, took its name from a vessel carrying produce from the Low Countries that came ashore on the beach during the 1700s. Traders were a type of sailing ship carrying exports and imports between Britain and the continent.
The pub, originally three separate houses, was divided into two main bars, the Lifeboat Bar and the Trawler Bar. It is now a well known live music venue in the town, with bands coming from all over the country as well as local ones.
This pub has always been connected to the sea and from 1908 to 1945 the landlord, Tiny Breeds, was a prominent local fisherman running two boats the Leading Star and the Edward and Mary. He was also a town councillor from 1921 until 1943 and a freemason.
In 1921 the London Trader was sold by Smiths Lamberhurst Brewery for £400.
A more recent landlord Trevor Gaiger, passed away in 1998. There was a large turnout for his funeral where local singer Liane Carol sang The Briar and the Rose, one of his favourite songs.
Lord Warden, 73 Manor Road
In 1936 The Lord Warden applied for an extension licence for half an hour. It was refused.
Millers Arms, Old Winchelsea Road, Ore
The Milers Arms, Ore, is a fairly large pub which seems to have had at least four bars in the past all with separate entrances. A large back garden hosts a petanque court (boules) and the pub team plays in the 1066 Petanque League which seems to have eight clubs(?). There are also four dart boards on the wall and a host of silver trophies on display. One team, including the well known Mark Greenaway who has been playing since the 70s, reached the second round of the finals of the Holsten National Darts Championship in 2007 thus placing themselves among the first thirty-two pub teams in the country. The landlord George Noble said: “They were pig sick because they were so close. But it was extremely good to be there. Let’s hope we can get back into it next year and do a bit better.”
The pub has some interesting items hanging on the walls. These include three water colours - one of the Fountain, Queen’s Road, one of the Old Golden Cross, Havelock Road and one of the Millers Arms itself. The latter was painted by G.Tyler. The Fountain could have been painted by the same artist who painted the watercolour of the Fortune of War now exhibited on the wall of the Bridge Centre, Ore. The water colour of the Millers Arms shows a different sign from the present one which has the slogan ‘In Grain we Work’.
There is also a collection of old cuttings of pub trips to the pantomime in Brighton and elsewhere and of Christmas parties of years gone by, both organised by the pub Games Committee. The oldest cutting is dated 1947.
The pub is believed to have a history of conflict with the temperance Methodist Church situated at the end of Winchelsea Road.
Hastings & St Leonards Chronicle 25/7/1877 - landlord James Read Ades assault. Same landlord applied for a full licence in 1869? Same pub?
1886 William Luck was landlord who transferred to the newly opened Clive Vale Hotel.
Mount Pleasant, Mount Pleasant Road
Oddfellows Arms, 397 Old London Road
This building is the second ‘Mock Tudor’ public house in Hastings, (the other is Ye Olde Pump House) and was rebuilt in ?
In the 1880s this pub was the headquarters of the Ore Independent Beanfeast Club. Apart from providing the usual functions as a savings and social club, this club was a particularly conservative and patriotic working class stronghold. At their annual dinner they toasted the Queen, the Royal Family and the Army and Navy. They sang John Bull’s Dream, The Old Water Mill, Rule Britannia, Old Lang Syne and the National Anthem.
Prince Albert, 28 Cornwallis Street
Another local pub named after Queen Victoria’s husband, located in an area developed in the mid nineteenth century. The Prince Albert is listed in the Hastings Directory for 1871 when the licensee is named as Thomas King.
The first Hastings CAMRA branch was formed here in 1975 before moving to Mr Cherry’s on the sea front.
Rising Sun, Battle Road, Hollington
Built in 1868 and used by the RAOB (Buffaloes) in 1899. In 1901 a police constable ‘attired as a labourer’ observed a book makers agent taking bets in the Rising Sun. Both agent and landlord were fined and cautioned.
In an unusual case of a scam, in 1938 a customer called Joseph Brazil, handed a watch and chain, a £2 piece, a pair of gloves, a signed cheque and some other items to Louise Barton, the bar maid, for security on a round of drinks he didn’t pay for. He then left for the Hastings Arms with another man called Alfred Ripley who later returned, paid for the round and fraudulently claimed the goods left behind. This was evidently a scam. Ripley was charged with theft and remanded. In 1940 the licensee was fined for allowing drunkenness.
Robert de Mortain, 373 The Ridge
This pub was originally the lodge of Netherwood House a building occupied in the 1930s by a socialist commune. During the war it was partly occupied by the Army Records Office.
Aliester Crowley the occultist, lived there from 1944 until his death in December 1947. He allegedly practised ‘sex-magic’ and black magic here. He was known as ‘the most wickedest man in the world’.
In September 1946 Leney’s Brewery of Wateringbury, Kent purchased the freehold of the lodge house by then known as Ripon Lodge Hotel. Following refurbishment this modern and substantial building was converted to the Robert De Mortain public house which opened in December 1946 exactly a year before Crowley’s death.
Its licence was transferred from the Bedford Hotel in the town centre which was bombed in the Battle of Britain 1940. The Bedford licence was held ‘in suspension’ by Walter Daish of Leney’s Brewery, Wateringbury, Kent from 1941 until 1947. The first landlord was Geoffrey Taylor and an application was made to change the name from Ripon Lodge Hotel to the Robert de Mortain in April 1948.
The first pub sign, a double sided sign, was included in Whitbreads miniature inn sign series in about 1950. It was designed by Violet Rutter who also designed the signs for the Warriors Gate, Princes, G.I., Marina Inn and the Nags Head. The current sign is a bland Green King multiple.
The pub was badly damaged in the 1986 hurricane to the extent that it required a new roof.
A ghost resides on the pavement opposite the pub and is said to be inspired by some former mischievous activity of Aliester Crowley. The house itself is not haunted but an energy line allegedly runs through the grounds.
Robert De Mortain was the half brother of William the Conqueror and is credited with building Hastings castle.
Royal Albert, Battle Road
Opened in around 1871 this pub was in the hands of just three families for a hundred years: the Kings from 1898-1923; the Breachs from 1924-1949 and the Greers from 1950-1980. The father of the King brothers was the famous Toby King radical pioneer and free thinker.
Shah (The), 144 Mount Pleasant Road
Charged with overcharging in 1919. Landlord was a Queen’s servant in ?
In 1936 the Shah asked if it could provide a piano in the bar for customers use without a licence. “Anyone can have a piano for customers to play without a licence provided they were not paid entertainers.”
Tivoli Tavern, 131-133 Battle Road, St Leonards
Built in 1860 as the Tivoli Hotel it took its name from the old Tivoli tea rooms and gardens at the junction of Battle Road and ‘Jessie Hack’s’ hill. The first licensee was William Edlin who also ran the Silverhill Pottery.
In 1870 a group of youths were out on a spree. One of them, to the amusement of the others, kept his money in a small cloth bag. During the evening’s pranks the corner of the bag was cut and two sixpences removed which upset the owner who next day reported it to the police. After three court appearances and two adjournments the case was dismissed. The accused said “I took your money for a lark, I don’t want it you old Irish …”. The lawyer said: ‘Actus non facit reum nisi meus sit rea’. (Action means little unless the mind is eager for the truth.)
In 1876 the landlord was still being criticised for his customer’s behaviour. “I’m doin’ my best. I have a rough lot to deal with,” he said.
In 1915 this pub had at least one bar with the licensee’s sitting room adjoining and a billiard room. It seems that a popular drink in winter was ‘three of hot rum’.
In 1937 the annual dinner of the Tivoli Winkle Club was held here. Unlike the Hastings Winkle Club this one admitted women. They were entertained by Mackie brothers with humorous Irish renderings, Mr J.Mould (Baritone), Mr J.Crump jnr, (piano accordion), Mrs Lipscome (comedienne), Mr J. Marchant (base), Mr Donaldson (comedian), Mr Howard (instrumentalist) and Mr Barton jnr and Young Taffy (duets).
The Tivoli Winkle Club operated here in the 1930s. The Dicky Bow Club existed more recently in the 1970s.
Tower, Tower Road, Bohemia
Only 140 years old, the Tower Inn recalls the provision that James Burton made for travellers in 1836 who were travelling to or from St Leonards. At the junction with London Road a house with a tower existed which served as a Toll Gate or Turnpike. In 1857 the point of payment for tolls was moved north to the junction with Battle Road at Silverhill. But the toll gate is remembered in the name of this pub and the road.
It got its full licence in 1866 when it was described as ‘recently erected’ at the Tower Turnpike Gate. Its first landlord was Thomas Turner licensee of the Havelock Hotel who handed the Havelock over to his sons. The Tower Hotel was 3/4 miles from the Old England to the south and 1 mile from the Tivoli Tavern to the north. It is a purpose built hotel and pub with eighteen rooms.
Victoria, Battle Road
Jessie Hack was the first landlord when the pub was rebuilt in 1840 (?)
Welcome Stranger, Silverhill
Yates’s, 54-55 Robertson Street
The upper part of this building which stems from the 1850s, was originally known as the Music Hall. By 1865 various businesses including a ‘Cigar Manufacturer’ and a ‘Pianoforte Warehouse’ were located on the ground floor. In 1875 the Music Hall became the Public Hall catering for up to 800 people who attended ‘magic lantern shows’, amateur dramatics and political meetings, among others. One such meeting in 1909 discussed the popular theme of drink and the causes of poverty and during the Edwardian period suffragette meetings were held weekly.
In 1913 the building became the Plaza cinema and remained a cinema for sixty-five years. In 1940 during the Battle of Britain it was bombed by the Luftwaffe, an act which killed and injured several people. In 1948 it changed its name to the Orion but finally closed in 1978 after which W.H.Smiths opened an extended store in 1979. Finally in 1998 it became a branch of Yates.
The present Oddfellows Arms appears to have been built around 1928/9 slightly south of the original pub ref: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=179-dhc6-ead_5&cid=1-745#1-745
The previous building was purchased by the Highways and Works Committee on 19 Dec 1928 ref http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=179-dhbb&cid=1-1-242#1-1-242