Cardiff: pubs and their signs 2

Fancy a drink? How about a pub crawl? Just to check out the signs and their buildings, of course. No imbibing!

 

Poet’s Corner, Roath

It was brought home to me recently how behind I am with my posts on this blog when I discovered that this pub, the Poet’s Corner in City Road, Roath, has closed down since I took these photographs back in September last year. Built in the late 1800s and known by a series of names, including The Ruperra Arms, PC’s Food and Drink Factory and Tut’n’Shive – who thinks up these names? – last orders were called for the final time in December 2015. Word at the bar is that old pubs like this are being targeted by property developers keen to grab a prime piece of inner city real estate, knock down the heritage buildings, and build cheap and soul-less concrete blocks in their places, though it also seems there are just too many pubs and not enough punters these days – or maybe that should be too many pubs and not enough poets!

Pen and Wig, Cathays

In contrast to the Poet’s Corner, the Pen and Wig, no more than a mile away, seems to be thriving. I’m sure it benefits from being closer to the city centre, very close to City Hall, the National Museum, Cardiff University and the Crown Court, and, as you might guess from its name, the area is awash with legal professionals. This pub also boasts a large rear garden area and a reputation for good food, including Sunday roasts, a combination sure to bring in the customers. 

The building was previously occupied by an ophthalmologist and only converted to a public house in 1994. The pub sign may be modern but is stylish and has a traditional feel.

Robin Hood, Canton

As far as I’m aware there is no actual association between this pub and the legendary Nottinghamshire outlaw and, in fact, there are pubs throughout Britain called ‘Robin Hood’ for no other reason than the fact that the owner liked the name. Apparently, this particular Robin Hood was built as recently as 1901 and its main claim to fame is that it used to be owned by Charlotte Church’s parents – this is where the Welsh singer-songwriter-actress-television presenter began her career in singing. With such a handsome Robin hanging outside to inspire her, I'm a little surprised she didn't adopt the stage name Maid Marian!

The pub sits in a nice tree-lined suburban street and I imagine it’s rather pleasant sitting outside sipping on a cold one on a hot summer’s day. (For the dubious, yes, we do actually have hot summer’s days in Cardiff!) 

The Heath, Cathays

I pass the Heath often, as it occupies a corner adjacent to Cathays Cemetery and is on one of my regular walking routes to Bute Park and the River Taff, yet I’ve never crossed its doorstep. It’s known as a working man’s pub, though I imagine it also attracts its fair share of the medical students and staff from Heath Hospital, just down the road. 

The Heath was built in 1899 but has been altered and extended since its original construction, though I understand it still retains some traces of its original interior decoration, with plaster reliefs of national symbols and a coat of arms high up on the walls. 

I particularly like the Heath’s pub sign, which has a rather eerie look with its solitary caped woman and sinister black bird.

Cheshire: pubs and their signs 8

‘Keep your libraries, your penal institutions, your insane-asylums ... give me beer. You think man needs rule, he needs beer. The world does not need morals, it needs beer ... The souls of men have been fed with indigestibles, but the soul could make use of beer.’ ~ Henry Miller

Here are some more of the pubs in Cheshire that would make Henry Miller a happy man!

The Bricklayers Arms, Altrincham

Now sitting on the outskirts of Manchester city, Altrincham has long been a thriving market town, though it really took off in the 18th century when canal and railway links greatly improved transportation. The Butchers Arms isn’t quite that old but does date to the beginning of the 19th century, so perhaps was built to take advantage of Altrincham’s growth.

The sign is interesting. It shows a variation of the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers, one of the ancient Livery Companies of the City of London. Members of the Company would once have held a monopoly over all roof and floor tile- and brick-laying in London but, like all the Livery Companies, now exists only as a charitable body to promote excellence in its associated industries. The mottos read: ‘In God is all our trust’ and, the one I particularly like, ‘Let us never be confounded’.

The Axe and Cleaver, Dunham Massey

This is one of the few pubs I’ve blogged about that I’ve actually had a drink at. 

Sitting in the garden on a hot summer’s day, sipping on a rather delicious thirst-quenching pint of cider, was perfect after a long walk along the Bridgewater Canal.

The Axe and Cleaver dates from around 1880 and was originally a private house whose owners held a beer licence. It has since been modified and added to, though the coaching-inn-style outbuildings are original and are listed buildings. 

The setting is delightful and I’m told the food is hearty so it’s a great way to end a day out at the National Trust property at Dunham Massey, which is close by.  

The Hare and Hounds, Crowton 

This public house is around 300 years old and is one of the meeting places for the Cheshire Hunt, so is aptly named. And, though I don’t approve of hunting hares with hounds, I have included it here for its interesting signs. The one showing the frantic hare being pursued by eager hounds is the usual image associated with this type of hunting but I much prefer the image on the other sign, where the hare sits calmly in a clump of grass on one side of a stream while the two hounds stand thwarted from their blood-thirsty work on the other side. One up for the hare!

The Tunnel Top, Dutton

According to its own website, the Tunnel Top

has stood above the Preston Brook Tunnel on the Trent & Mersey Canal since 1903. The pub has seen many changes over time yet has remained at the heart of a local community for many years and is still inviting for passing travellers and canal users throughout the year. Many local walks can be commenced from the pub, for those interested in rural history.

This public house was formerly named the Talbot Arms, after its landlord Mr Talbot, who retired not too many years ago at the grand old age of 93. And, as the website says, it is perfectly situated for a beer at the end of a countryside stroll.

 

The Chetwode Arms, Lower Whitley

This is another public house where I’ve enjoyed a drop of the local cider, as it is alos perfectly situated, on a quiet side road off the A9 and just along from a charming old country church that is also worth a look. 

The Arms is said to be 400 years old and is a charming maze of tiny rooms and alleyways. 

The coat of arms on the sign comes from the Chetwode family, the most famous of whom was Sir John Chetwode (1764-1845), who was born in Cheshire, in Stockport, and served as Cheshire’s High Sheriff in the late 1780s before commencing a parliamentary career. 

I’m not sure of the family’s connection with this particular pub – perhaps they owned the land hereabouts at some point.

The Old Black Bear, Sandbach

I grabbed photos of these last two pubs during a very brief visit to Sandbach to see the town’s famous 9th-century Anglo-Saxon crosses, and I was so charmed by the bear on the roof of the Old Black Bear that I forgot to take a close up photo of the pub’s sign.

As you can see from the photo, this is a very old building, dating from 1634, and a wonderful example of the half-timbered properties to be found in many of Cheshire’s market towns. Not surprisingly, this is a Grade II listed building, with plenty of heritage features: the moulded wood mullions, the gables and (restored) bargeboards, exposed ceiling beams and framing timbers. And what a superb job the thatcher has done of the new roof!

The Wheatsheaf, Sandbach

This public house is much more recent than the Old Black Bear, built in 1890 at the request of Lord Crewe to provide a shuttle service for travellers to Sandbach Station, according to Joan Alcock in her book Cheshire Inn Signs (The History Press, Stroud, 2008). Apparently, it also served as the headquarters for the American GIs who were billeted in this area during World War Two.

I haven’t discovered the origin of the pub’s name but a wheatsheaf would’ve been a common sight in the fields surrounding the town in the days before modern harvesting equipment, and the sign is a lovely example of the art of signwriting.

Cheshire: pubs and their signs 6

I spent a couple of hours recently exploring Nantwich: so many beautiful old black-and-white buildings, so many pubs which, of course, means pub signs! So, here’s a little history of Nantwich told through its public houses.

The biggest thing that ever happened to this Cheshire market town was the Great Fire on 10 December 1583 and, wouldn’t you know it, it was caused by a brewer who accidentally set fire to his kitchen. Chaos reigned as a bucket-passing human chain tried to quell the flames with water from the River Weaver, all the while dodging the bears that were running through the streets – a landlord who provided the horrendous entertainment of bear baiting had let his animals loose when the fire got near his premises.

The townsfolk’s efforts were in vain and much of the town was destroyed but their misery has become our delight. As Nantwich played an important role in the Cheshire salt industry, good Queen Bess organised some national fundraising and herself contributed wood from nearby Delamere Forest so many of the beautiful old taverns we can see today date from the time of town’s rebuilding.

The Cheshire Cat, Nantwich

Let’s start with the pub with the cutest name, The Cheshire Cat. The black-and-white part of the pub was originally built in 1637 as three cottages. In 1676-77, in memory of his beloved wife, local man Roger Wilbraham, had the cottages converted to almshouses, to house six impoverished local widows and so they remained until the 1930s.

In 2002, the buildings were redeveloped for their current use as a pub, restaurant and small hotel, hence the rather modern cat sign – the Cheshire Cat artwork is by local artist Tori Chantler. I’m not sure I’d want to stay there though – apparently, the building has its share of ghostly inhabitants!

 

The Malbank, Nantwich

Malbank was the name of the family that owned Nantwich and much of the surrounding area in Norman times. Although the Romans had settled here earlier, in order to mine the extensive local salt deposits, William Malbank, third Baron of Wich Malbank (an earlier name for Nantwich) is credited with putting the town on the map.  

This building wasn’t always a pub – I found a photograph dating from around 1910 which gives its name as Acton’s Stables, and the pub sign appears to be a modern artist’s rather fanciful interpretation of how William Malbank may have looked in full battle armour – not exactly historically accurate, if the Bayeaux tapestry is anything to go by.

The Oddfellows Arms, Nantwich

As you may know, the Oddfellows is a Friendly Society, formed in 1810 but derived from the trade guilds of medieval times, which has the aim of ensuring that their large, 280,000-strong membership ‘join[s] together to enjoy the social side of life, as well as providing care advice and support in times of need’. Though the building occupied by the pub dated from the early 19th century and the arms displayed in the pub’s sign are those of the Oddfellows Society, I’m not sure if there is any connection. Perhaps the building was originally constructed for the society.

I particularly like the additional sign for Oscar’s Bar on the wall adjacent to the pub itself. Oscar was obviously a much-loved patron!

The Black Lion, Nantwich

Not far from The Oddfellows Arms is The Black Lion. Built in 1664, it still retains many of its original architectural features (stone floors, beams, and wattle and daub construction) and is the longest-running public house in Nantwich. No surprise then that this is another pub that’s said to be haunted.  

Though I’ve not found anything on the history of The Black Lion’s name, animal names coupled with colours are often heraldic references – The Red Lion, for example, is the most common pub name in England.

The Red Cow, Nantwich

According to their own website ‘The Red Cow is a charming 15th Century traditional pub close to the centre of Nantwich Town’, which underwent ‘a full and stunning refurbishment in March 2013’.

I found a wonderful snippet about The Red Cow’s history on a website quoting local historian Andrew Lamberton:

There is information regarding the public house in the booklet by Dr A.J. MacGregor called the ‘Inns and Innkeepers of Nantwich’. The address was 9 Beam Street, and it was originally an alehouse in 1792 called the Red Cow. In 1830 it was known as the Old Red Cow to distinguish it from the new one which was further down the street, the proprietor having taken the name with him when he moved to the new premises. The "new" Red Cow is still a public house in Beam Street.

The Crown, Nantwich

This wonderful old building was built in 1584, soon after that disastrous fire had decimated the town, and still has many original features as you can probably tell from its rather wonky shape. No wonder it’s Grade I listed. An inn named The Crown and Sceptre was referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086, and there is speculation that this was the original site of Nantwich Castle, which was built prior to 1180, so this location has seen a lot of history. You can read more on Wikipedia.  

Pub names like The Crown, which refer to royalty, have long been popular and are thought to have indicated the landlord’s loyalty to authority (at least publicly). The Inn Sign Society’s website also notes that ‘The sign of the crown has been used as an inn sign for hundreds of years as it was easily identifiable for the majority of the population, most of whom were illiterate.’

The Talbot, Nantwich

I was fascinated to learn that The Talbot’s name ‘comes from a breed of dog first put on their coat of arms by a family called Talbot’. Apparently, ‘the dogs were used for hunting (like a fox hound) or for running alongside stage coaches’.

Though it was originally named The Talbot, former owners changed the pub’s name to The Frog and Ferret – a rather bizarre combination of creatures. Locals celebrated when the name was changed back to the original in 2007. Photos of some of this pub’s previous signs can be seen on A Dabber’s Nantwich’s website – I think I like the current sign best.