The Changing Face of Our Pubs “Myths, Legends and Ghostly Goings On”

W h or it kin ip w g in partnersh INTRODUCTION THE UNICORN with hot water or milk, sugar, lemon and We celebrate the Living History of our Parish in spices; rumbo sounds this publication focusing on local public houses like much the same thing based on rum. On another evening which for many years have served a wide variety in the summer they stayed til past midnight of residents and visitors. They continue to underpin drinking wine and punch and fell into an much of the social life of the town. In this booklet, argument about whether Beau Nash, who you will delight in learning some facts and stories helped establish Bath as a fashionable resort, was still alive. “Capt. Hutton and that bring their past to life. Enjoy the read and Pyke laid Loddington and I a six shilling maybe stop for a rest in a pub of your choosing. bowl of punch that he was now living, we having asserted that he was sometime This booklet has been jointly produced by Leighton dead and Stone laid Loddington the same Buzzard & District Archaeological & Historical wager of a bottle of wine, which in the Society and Leighton-Linslade Town Council. The old Unicorn Inn now the Lancer course of the debate they doubled and I in Lake Street features in the diary of went halves with Loddington in the last John Salusbury Esq., who was a local bottle.” Sadly for Salusbury, Nash lived magistrate, and lived a few doors away. until 1762. The Unicorn, Lake Street, Page 3 His diary for the years 1757 to 1759 In 1727 the inn was described for a fire Golden Bell, Church Square Page 4 describes meetings of his club, the Civil insurance policy: the house and brewery Society where the venue for a meeting was all brick and tiled were insured for £300, The Top Bell, High Street Page 5 chosen by club members in turn and he a huge sum at the time. The yard had a The Globe, Globe Lane Page 6 often gives details of the evenings spent range of stables on either side and the Roebuck (now The Oliver & Hare), Page 7 there. He owned the Unicorn and often gate house also had a stable and a privy. chose it for In addition there were wheat barns, bean Hockliffe Street “The yard had a meetings. hovels and a barley barn. Throughout the Hare Inn, Southcott Village Page 8 range of stables on C19th the Claridge family owned the inn either side and the He describes Black Lion, High Street Page 9 and ran a wagon service to London twice a gate house also had a meeting his The Wheatsheaf, North Street Page 10 week. At the beginning of the C20th it was stable and a privy" friend Captain The Sun, Lake Street Page 11 Hutton, who advertising itself the perfect place to stay lived at Heath and Reach, at the Unicorn for cycling tours and for hunting locally. The Swan, High Street Page 12 on September 19th 1757: “In the afternoon By the 1980s the old inn had become The Boot Inn, (now Ollie Vees) Page 13 Capt. Hutton, Messrs Snabin and Ashwell a night club with Lake Street the scene Market Square met me at the Unicorn where we quaffed of late night fighting and drunkeness. It TACTIC, Hockliffe Street Page 14 punch and rumbo til nine of the clock. I closed and reopened as Shades nightclub The Bald Buzzard, Hockliffe Street Page 15 spent five shillings and they one shilling and closed again, finally reopening again apiece”. Punch was wine or spirits mixed as The Lancer family pub.

2 #LBLivingHistory #LBLivingHistory 3 GOLDEN BELL poor were only relieved THE TOP BELL Street. Later it belonged from their misery every to the Leighton Buzzard five years by this charity. diarist John Salusbury It seems to have been a Esq. who lived in Lake pub from the start - one of the early tenants Street. When it was sold in 1861 it had was listed as an ale seller. On market a large market room, six bedrooms and days its stable yard was used to parade boasted stabling for 60 horses; the sale horses which were for sale. By the C19th included the adjoining shop, once part of the Golden Bell or Bottom Bell as it was the pub. known in deference to its older cousin at In September 1911, disaster struck. At the the top of the High Street, seemed to have time it was the Bell Hotel and was owned been going downhill. It changed landlord and run by the wife of Auguste Francois every few years and gained something of a Pouchot of St George’s Square London bad reputation. By June 1875 the landlord who had separated a few years earlier and Richard Ginger was up before Francis lived there with their son. On September There cannot be too many pubs formerly Bassett Esq the magistrate on a charge of The Bell Inn can easily lay claim to be the 2nd Mrs Pouchot was running a bath when owned by a charity for 300 years, but threatening behaviour. Sarah Ann his wife oldest pub in Leighton Buzzard still serving the oil geyser heating the water exploded Leighton Buzzard’s Golden Bell is one of said his threats to her were such “to cause ales to customers. Its name is recorded as she tried to light it. She was severely the few. The charity was set up in the will her to go in bodily fear”. over 500 years ago when it’s great wooden burned and treated at a jewellers shop by of William Duncombe on the 26th March Two weeks later he was before the courts ‘sign of an Inn at ye Bell’ hung over the Dr Spencer Pearson, who lived in Lake 1603. He left the house in Church End again for suffering drunkeness upon his market place. It was called simply The Bell Street and was and two adjoining cottages in Leighton licensed premises, and further charged for hundreds of years but during the C20th the father of “The second largest Buzzard, plus a couple of acres of land in with having kept his pub open for the sale it was known as The Top Bell, the Market the children’s building in the town the common fields to 12 trustees to use of intoxicating liquors after closing time, Tavern and The Cranky Weasel. author Mary with 11 hearths” the profits for the poor of the parish. The 11pm. Richard Ginger separated from his It was originally larger than today, occupying Norton. legacy was to be shared with Dunstable wife and moved to London, to “make the both sides of Bell Alley, and in the Hearth The Fire Brigade arrived at the scene and and four villages-Battlesden, Potsgrove, best of a bad case from a domestic point Tax of 1671 it was the second largest managed to stop the fire spreading to the Ivinghoe and Ivinghoe Aston. of view”. building in the town with 11 hearths. Despite adjoining shop of Coopers ironmongers The money was specifically for “the benefit The Licence was transferred to his the number of rooms visitors shared and Mr Spiers, a silversmith - benzoline, of the deserving and necessitous persons brother Joseph Ginger. Colonel Gilpin chambers, a Quarter Sessions court record gunpowder and other combustibles were resident in the parish” and was to pay for remarked that the house had been “for from 1683 outlines the case against a stored there. A few days later Mrs Pouchot clothes, linen, London pickpocket who admitted stealing "On market days its some considerable time notoriously mis- died from her injuries. A local photographer bedding, fuel, money from the breeches pocket of a stable yard was used conducted”. In 1898 the trustees decided recorded the scene as crowds watched the tools, medical aid butcher as they slept together in a chamber to parade horses to sell the property including the pub, firemen dousing the flames. Four days later in sickness, and at the Bell. Both men would have been in which were for sale" cottages and the land. The auction was his photograph was on sale as a postcard for loans in times held at the Corn Exchange and the Golden Leighton for the busy market. which was posted out by locals to their of loss or destitution. Each parish took it in Bell was bought by the Aylesbury Brewery In the C17th it was owned by the Wilkes friends and family telling of the dramatic turn to receive the money, so Leighton’s Company. family, who built the Almshouses in North event shown in the photo.

4 #LBLivingHistory #LBLivingHistory 5 THE GLOBE for the family consisted ROEBUCK a bone setter held of a parlour and kitchen now The Oliver & Hare a clinic there every downstairs, with four week as did a vet. bedrooms above. Adverts for servants Adjoining the house was a timber boarded -‘strong girl wanted’ - invited applicants and tiled stable with a loft over it. Joseph to apply to Mrs Gartside at the Roebuck A Spiers was a market gardener, and he bath chair was advertised “to Let; without turned one of the fields on the other side attendant 9d per hour, with attendant of the canal into an orchard. The Globe’s 1s 3d per hour”. But perhaps the most remoteness from the town, which is one curious was an advert in the Leighton of its main attractions today, was the very Buzzard Observer for 9th July 1889 reason why three lads from the North End entitled “Bathing”. Mr W.H.Hopkins of the of Leighton Buzzard ended up before the Roebuck Inn “begs to announce that for courts. In September 1883 “three young bathing purposes the Bed of the Ouzel Before the canal and railway were built celebrities” - in the language of the day - has been Thoroughly Cleansed near the through Linslade, the small farm that is now were convicted of throwing stones at the Black Bridge and a building erected for the Globe public house, was surrounded apple trees in Joshua Spiers orchard. They With its windows facing down the High Bathers on the bank thereof. Tickets for by lush water meadows running down to managed to bring down “about two pecks Street and in the centre of the market the season to be obtained at the above the river Ouzel. The Swinstead family from worth two shillings” before being chased off place the White Horse Inn of the C17th address.” Heath and Reach who ran the farm were by the landlord’s son James. was ideally situated. It stood next to The The Roebuck public house closed for collar makers, producing bridles and halters The Globe was put up for sale in the late Peacock, with The Greyhound across business just a few years ago and today for horses from leather probably produced 1880s, several times failing to find a buyer. the street and the middle row pubs - The the building houses the restaurant of The from their cattle, who fed in their pastures In the 1891 census it is not named as a Cross Keys, the Boot and the Curriers Oliver & Hare. along the Ouzel valley. public house and 69 "Three young Arms close by. In May 1800 the Grand Junction Canal year old Joshua Spiers celebrities were However by the next century its fortunes was opened through Linslade, cutting the is described only as convicted of changed. In a fire insurance policy of farmlands in half, but a bridge was built a market gardener. throwing stones” 1726 it had changed to Ye Roe Buck, and over to give them access to the land. The Tom Lawson, born and later in the century it had been divided Swinsteads continued to own the farm but in bred in Leighton Buzzard, and historian of into three dwellings. It had reopened as a 1823 Joseph Spiers took over the occupancy the town, remembered walking to the Globe pub by 1793 when Edward Walker signed of the small farmhouse. The passing barges with his parents on a summer evening and his name to the declaration that he would loaded with local sand and fruit, and bringing sitting outside with a lemonade “a great treat allow no seditious cheap coal from the midlands must have in those days”. During the last 50 years the “Adverts for meetings in his given him the idea for the pub as by 1830 it pub has expanded into the stable, and the servants -‘strong house. got its first licence as a beerhouse. meadows have become a car park and filled girl wanted" During the C19th In the C19th The Globe had just a taproom with tables for outside summer dining. It is the publicans at for serving ale to the bargees and labourers probably more popular now than in all of its the Roebuck, diversified. Auctions were who worked in the fields. Accommodation 200 year history. regularly held at the pub and in its yard;

6 #LBLivingHistory #LBLivingHistory 7 THE HARE INN the deer was turned out BLACK LION evidence, and by Mrs in a field at the rear of Scott. Both defendants Mr Thomas Birdsey’s were found guilty and farm house” - this was fined and ordered to a captured deer brought to the hunt and pay £1.13s to replace a bottle of oil which then set free to be chased. The great was being carried by Linnell. and the good were all there including the Many town centre pubs had an all-day de Rothschilds, the Earl of Ilchester and licence to stay open on market days and locals like Frederick Bassett, William King, fairs as farmers and their lads would move Henry Pettit and the lawyer David Willis. from pub to pub making deals, buying and Luncheon was provided by Mr Birdsey at selling, and his house, while on the village green in "Many town centre pubs had sampling front of the Hare “the rustics assembled an all-day licence to stay the ale. in full force, their numbers augmented by open on market days" This led the influx of kindred spirits who swarmed to the When in August 1865 George Andrew The Hare Inn at Southcott is a village pub to the attraction of a large barrel of beer local joke “Tiddly Tuesday”. The licensee applied for a licence for “a refreshment which sits facing the green. It was opened and bread and cheese ad libitum” paid of the Greyhound, at the corner of North house to be called the Black Lion”, he was as an ale house in about 1830 and its first for by de Rothschild. The children were Street and Hockliffe Street, was charged resurrecting the ghosts of the old Sow and landlord Henry Woodman was also the not forgotten: “and charming beyond with allowing illegal gambling in his pub. Pigs and the Bullhead, both inns which village blacksmith. In August 1864 Robert expression to the juvenile population - 300 Evidence was given of games of bagatelle had been sited on this central part of the Eggleton applied for a spirits licence rolls steeped in treacle”. and dominoes, played for money, with High Street. The Sow and Pigs had closed for the beerhouse, despite presenting a The pub went through a bad patch in allegations of gin being added to the beer its doors at the end of the C18th having petition and stating that his house was late 1893 when the publican Henry Finch to addle the players. When a witness changed its name from the Bullhead, which over half a mile from other Linslade pubs, was found “very drunk and staggering protested to the magistrate that he was not was named as early at 1676. Both names he was about” on his own premises, swearing too drunk, the reply “you mean I suppose "In February of 1881 the reflect the front row seat which the pub had refused. and striking at customers. Phipps & Co. that neither of you was so drunk but that Rothschilds held a deer hunt for the markets and fairs held in the town’s However the Northampton brewers who leased the you could see the spots on the dominoes”. starting at Southcott" High Street. Five years later Andrew and when it Hare from Thomas Birdsey promptly gave his new inn were in the Leighton Buzzard On the death of George Andrews in 1890 was sold in May 1876 it was described as Finch notice to leave. He was replaced by Observer at the centre of an assault case. the pub was sold by auction at the Corn “that old and well known freehold public Jeremiah Francis Scannell who died two Exchange in Lake Street. It was described house situated in the centre of the village years later at 51 and the pub was then run The trouble at the October 24th Runaway as being “old established and fully licensed of Southcourt [sic] known by the sign of by his widow Kate. Fair - held every year since 1447 - began situated in the best part of the High Street.” the Hare” with rich grasslands adjoining, when the victim Thomas Linnell from Many of the Southcott farms have been It had a large yard entered through a and it was bought by Thomas Birdsey and Brickhill was employed to sell a horse at sold and developed for housing but the covered gateway, with stabling for 16 James Tompkin became the landlord. the Fair. During the course of the day, Rothschild Stud remains in the village and horses, a substantial barn and a pump and he was threatened and assaulted several In February of 1881 the Rothschilds held the Hare continues to serve the “rustics”. well of “excellent water” - highly important times by two men. The whole thing was a deer hunt starting at Southcott, “where for the brewing of good ale. witnessed by William Stone, who gave

8 #LBLivingHistory #LBLivingHistory 9 THE WHEATSHEAF is not helped by his THE SUN INN they would not allow signature - a cross; I any gatherings on their suppose he cannot write. property which might Secondly the suitability try to subvert or disturb of the premises is so limited that there is no the government of the country. lodging for travellers or soldiers on billet, no The Sun Inn had been established at the stable for a horse, nor yard for carts - in fact bottom end of Lake Street for about 100 no accommodation for an inn, nothing but years at this time; it was a substantial inn a ‘drink-shop’.” The letter went on to lament with a gated yard, stabling, a large barn the size of the pub and pointed out that and two cottages and traded on the traffic the square was already well provided for - making its way from Dunstable up Lake “crowded with public houses”. Street to Leighton’s market place. At the Evidence for bad behaviour came before back of the pub was the Sun Close, a the magistrates in November 1899 when the large grassy field, perhaps used for the landlady of the Wheatsheaf was hit round the cattle, geese, horses and sheep being North Square, where today North Street face. James Linney and Charles Collins two It was a cold January day in 1793 when herded to market. It had other uses though meets Church Street, was once crowded with Leighton labourers were up for assaulting John Hopkins from the Sun Inn, together for entertainment and in 1858 Joseph inns and taverns to serve travellers coming both the landlady and her customers. The with 31 other inn holders and publicans of Fearn temporarily lost his licence at the from the north down Watling Street and along report in the Leighton Buzzard Observer was Leighton Buzzard met at the Town Hall in Sun for permitting music and dancing, Heath Road towards Leighton’s busy market headed ‘North End Rowdyism’. The trouble the market place to discuss the revolution theatrical performances and for harbouring and High Street. The Wheatsheaf was one started when Collins was in the Wheatsheaf currently raging across France. A few prostitutes. of a row of pubs, next to the Windmill, the drinking a glass of beer when Linney came days before their meeting the King of However within just a few years the Leathern Bottle later known as the Buffalo, in and was France Louis XVI had been condemned to merrymaking at the Sun Close became “The report in the and the old Kings Arms. The Square marked refused a death: what would happen if the revolution an established part of the festivities at Leighton Buzzard Observer the edge of the town until the common fields beer by Mrs jumped across the English Channel? the annual town feast held in early June. were enclosed in 1840’s. The Ashwell Arms was headed Rowdyism in Field as she The government of the day were already A description from the newly published in Ashwell Street carries the name of the North Square” knew what taking measures to curb would-be Leighton Buzzard Observer in1864 Ashwell family who owned much of the land effect it had upon him”. Collins offered his revolutionaries by banning meetings. describes the goings on in the meadow at along the road. glass to Linney who continued to drink thus Agreeing that they were all “fully sensible the rear of the Rising Sun, as it was then During the C19th so many pubs and provoking a fight aided by Collins. of the inestimable blessings of peace, called: “A gigantic dramatic booth - the beerhouses were licensed that the area The landlord William Field appeared and good order and good government” and that Great Model Mammoth Theatre as it was became known for drunkenness and bad stopped the fight and sent for the police. they viewed with “detestation... seditious called, but be that as it may, our readers behaviour. The White Lion, a small pub The court was told that the two men were and disaffected persons” intent on rousing have been told enough to give them an fronting the square, drew this criticism in a well known in the North End, going about in disorder and idea of what sort of entertainments were letter to the editor of the Leighton Buzzard gangs. Police Sergeant Panter gave evidence corrupting provided at the Leighton Buzzard Club "It was a substantial Observer in 1878: “What has induced saying that Collins had been drinking and the minds of Feasts.” A hundred years later the meadow inn with a gated yard, the magistrates to grant the White Lion a Linney was drunk. Both men were fined with the people. would host the annual hog-roast at carnival stabling, a large barn licence? First the character of the applicant one month’s prison if they did not pay. The publicans time continuing the tradition before the field and two cottages" declared that was eventually built over.

10 #LBLivingHistory #LBLivingHistory 11 THE SWAN INN Swan sent a coach to THE BOOT INN to his holy well in the meet travellers from the village. A number of train. now Ollie Vee’s local pubs were named John Bushell and his in celebration of this - family ran the inn for 70 years from 1805 Soulbury still has one. and his name is still to be seen above In the mid C19th Mrs Charlotte Gandy the main entrance. During his time the took over the licence following her inn was often used as a headquarters husband’s death and during the during elections and it was from the 1850’s she was brought up before the balcony above the door that Leighton’s magistrates for selling beer on Sundays only Member of Parliament Francis before the official time of opening. In Bassett addressed the 2,000 strong crowd August 1858 her licence was suspended, following his victory in the 1872 election. but regranted a month later. Calamity The following years were the Swan’s hey- came to the pub in March 1899 when a day. With Baron Ferdinard de Rothschild disastrous fire broke out at 5.30 in the This is one of the less saucy remarks made living in the High Street, royalty, both morning in the adjoining Cross Keys. The by visitors to the Swan entered in their visitor English and foreign, visited the town local Fire Brigade under Captain Ruggles Old paintings of Leighton Buzzard’s book in the early years of the C20th and bringing with them aristocrats and their were on the scene within ten minutes and market place show a row of ancient timber using the first letter of each line to spell out entourages. Their purpose was to hunt with brought the flames under control. The framed buildings in the middle of the the name. Others include comments such the Rothschild Cross Keys was completely destroyed, road alongside the market hall. This was as: “The way was long. The day was hot. “Speak of things you Stag Hounds but rebuilt with a date stone - still to be Middle Row and three pubs stood next The machine ran well. Good lunch! What! know, When on through and the Swan seen on the building - recording the fact. to each other, The Cross Keys, the Boot What!” The machine here being an early life you go And remember stabling and and the Curriers Arms. It is believed that The Boot was very badly damaged and motor car. what we’ve said, Nothing yards were the Cross Keys building had once been was largely rebuilt, and it is this building The Swan has always been one of beats the ‘Swan’ Bed.” always full. the hall of the Fraternity of Corpus Christi, we see today now Ollie Vee’s. Leighton Buzzard’s foremost inns During the where in the C15th, local merchants met right from its early days 400 years Edwardian period the inn was run by Mrs for their trade meetings and celebration ago. Standing at the top of the High Kitty Towers, the widow of the last owner. dinners. Street looking over the Market Place its It was she who made the Swan such a commanding position has meant that it desirable venue keeping up very high The Boot was a small alehouse next door was always at the centre of town life. standards throughout the hotel. to the larger Cross Keys; it was named after the C13th century Rector of North A century later it became the posting In 1908 a party of eight visitors from Marston John house for the town, the post coach London and Buckinghamshire left this Schorne who “three pubs stood carrying the Royal Mail left the Swan every ditty: “We came here for an outing I’m very was believed to next to each other” morning for London at 7am. Another post pleased to say, We had a ripping luncheon have conjured coach also operated between Oxford and And not too much to pay, We are just a jolly the devil into a boot. He was venerated as Cambridge calling at the Swan for lunch. party And we had a jolly time, Well who a local saint and pilgrimages were made When the railway came to Linslade the could help it At the Swan, why it’s sublime!”

12 #LBLivingHistory #LBLivingHistory 13 TACTIC CENTRE THE BALD BUZZARD Street is now part of and method used in its a large furniture and construction. English electrical store, and its Heritage date it to old stone walls can be around 1550, before the first Elizabeth seen from the car park. was queen. Leighton’s local history and In 1810 the turnpike road running from archaeological society (LBDAHS) have Aylesbury in Bucks to Hockliffe in Beds been trying to date it more specifically, and was built. It ran down Wing Hill through perhaps show that it is even earlier than Linslade, crossed the canal and river 1500. bridges and came up through the High What we do know is that it is part of a Street and into Hockliffe Street. Despite larger building; the rest of the structure is the narrowness of the road it continued now Martinis restaurant, but they share on along Hockliffe Road to Eggington and one long roof. Efforts are being made to finally Hockliffe. date the woodwork, bricks, wattle and There it connected with Watling Street and The Changing Face of daub and even old thatch under the Opposite the Tactic Centre is Leighton’s another turnpike to Woburn. The improved modern tiles. In Benjamin Bevan’s map of newest pub The Bald Buzzard. Taking road surface our Historic Buildings the town the owner and occupier is given over the premises of a sweet shop it harks “When pubs sold ale, attracted The timber framed building which sits as George Hart and he is still there in the back to the days when pubs sold ale, played simple games more traffic alongside the road in Hockliffe Street is 1841 census, when he is 75 years old played simple games and giant television and giant television and visitors one of the few still standing which survived living with three female servants, one of screens did not drown out conversation. It screens did not drown to the town the great fire of Leighton Buzzard during whom, Eliza Merrywethers gives her age is part of a run of small shops and houses out conversation” encouraging the Civil War. It happened in March 1645 as 10 ! Another of the servants Ann Kilben between the yard of the old Roebuck more small and the details we have are sketchy. But from Northamptonshire is still there ten Inn and the enormous Methodist chapel shops to open up along the street as it left the extent of the fire can be guessed years later by which time she has become with two adjoining manses on either side the central market area. This continues at by the huge sum of money the local a ‘dame school mistress’. She perhaps which once stood here. Today, one manse today with the addition of banks and tradesmen asked Parliament for to help taught children their alphabet while they remains and houses a veterinary surgery. restaurants, and the Bald Buzzard serving rebuild the town. plaited straw for the hat industry in Luton. An earlier chapel at the rear of Hockliffe locally made ale. Later William We do not even know if any money was Johnson a tailor, forthcoming from the government of the born in Leighton If you want to know more about pubs visit - The Community Archives at Beds day; the Civil War was still raging in some Buzzard, lived https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/LeightonBuzzard/ parts of the country and Oliver Cromwell’s there with his LicensedPremisesInLeightonBuzzard.aspx puritans were in charge of Westminster family. His widow and London. The King would be executed and “The Old Pubs of Leighton Buzzard and Linslade” on sale from the Leighton Sarah was still four years later. Buzzard and District Archaeological and Historical Society www.lbdahs.org.uk/ there in 1911 at We do know that the building is a survivor the age of 91. This booklet has been jointly produced by Leighton Buzzard and District from before 1645 because of the materials Archaeological and Historical Society and Leighton-Linslade Town Council.

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Updated: January 2021 First Published: October 2016