An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St.Helens

Part 18 (of 34)  -  Old Pubs and Beerhouses in Sutton and district

Researched & Written by S.R.Wainwright  ©MMX    Contact Me      
          Heritage Home Page          Main Site Home Page          Research Sources

Header image:   Regulars pose for a photograph at the old Clock Face Inn

A- Z of Sutton Public Houses & Beerhouses

• Alexandra Hotel - Fisher Street, (off Peckers Hill Road) - Thomas Williams surrendered license to Thomas Lunt in December 1871 - In April 1899 landlord Edward Westhead, who'd been licensee since 1877, was prosecuted for allowing gambling on his premises - Closed 7th March, 1932

• Alma Vaults - Peasley Cross Lane - Not to be confused with pubs in Duke Street, Liverpool Road and Eccleston - Closed 11th February, 1922

• Beehive Inn - Moss Nook - License transferred in March 1891 from William Jones to David Chenney - In May 1895 license transferred from Michael Bryan to Jane Bryan -

• Boars Head - Mill Lane / Elton Head Road - listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 - Joseph Large was licensee in 1800 - William Sharples in 1891 -

• Boilermakers Arms - Hoghton Road - nicknamed 'Arky's Place'; Bessie and Edward Armitstead ran the pub for a number of years at the beginning of 20th century and a customer named Arkwright had a regular slate but one day couldn’t pay his debt. He had an argument with the landlord and as a result the pub became known as Arky’s pub -

• 
  Boundary Vaults - 73 Bold Road - listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 - Joseph Greenough licensee in 1891, declared bankrupt in October 1895 - On September 23rd, 1874 labourer John Dixon of Pecker's-hill died of "excessive drinking of whisky" after entering the pub already drunk then gulping down half a pint of whiskey followed by a gill. "Immediately afterwards he fell down insensible" reported Liverpool Mercury (25/9/1874) - recently renamed 'The Sutton Oak' -

• 
  Bowling Green Inn - 220 Watery Lane - In 1873 the license was transferred from Thomas Peers to James Bullen - Thomas Whalley publican in 1891 - On February 7th 1893 the Liverpool Mercury reported that the Bowling Green had been refused a new music license but no reason was given - John Thomas Addison granted license in 1894 - Closed 9th July 2006

• Bowling Green Inn - Robins Lane - Mr. Baines was licensee c.1930

• Bridge Inn - Sutton Road - In August 1882 license transferred from Thomas Rigby to George Milne - in October 1884 license transferred from Joseph Parr to Thomas Halton - in May 1900 license transferred from Henry Bickerstaffe to Alfred Smith - closed 10th August, 1929

• Bridge Inn - Peasley Cross - Jack Ashton was both publican and undertaker - now site of Peasley Cross Labour Club

• Brynn-y-Fillin - Watery Lane (formerly Ditch Hillock) - James Yates Jnr. recorded as taking over the license from Ann Ingleby in 1892 -

• Bull and Dog - 2 Clock Face Road - John Greenhaugh the licensee in 1800 - Thomas Brown 1891 -

• Bulls Head Inn - 13 Worsley Brow - Ann Hope licensee in 1891

• Chester Lane Tavern - 14 Chester Lane - Samuel Harrison licensee in 1884 - In May 1900 license transferred from Jane Harrison to Mary Jane Harrison - Closed 16th July, 1919

• The Clock Face (1st) - Clock Face Road - Thomas Grace licensee in 1800 - In February 1894 license transferred from Elizabeth Colquitt to Richard Colquitt
  
  

  
The original Clock Face Inn which was on the opposite side of
Clock Face Road than the present pub which opened in 1909

• Clock Face Hotel (2nd) - Clock Face Road, opposite side of road to the original - Opened 1909 - James Lawrence Snr., owner of Clock Face Crisps, left £100 to pub staff when he died in March 1985 -
  

• Crown Inn Tavern - Clock Face Road / Chester Lane - Listed in 1891 census as Crown Vaults - The Austin family ran the pub then, with Enoch Austin having obtained the license in October 1884 from Thomas Griffiths and then transferring the license to Joseph Austin in March 1891 - closed 31st December, 1930

• Crown Inn - Peasley Cross Lane - Closed 13th January, 1917
  

• Crystal Palace - Ditch Hillock (Waterdale Crescent) - The Bullocks ran the pub in 1891 with James transferring the license to Mary Bullock in March 1891 - Closed 12th January, 1935

• Coppersmiths Arms - 296 Watery Lane - Beerhouse keeper Peter Lees, licensee since 1892, appeared in court in 1896 charged with being drunk on his own licensed premises; he was arrested by Sergeant Jackson on 4th July after celebrating the festival of the Rose Queen in Sutton but the case was dismissed -

• Ell Bess Vaults - Ell Bess Lane (Sherdley Road from 1902) - closed 8th March, 1932 - Ell Bass or Bess was also the name of the petrol station that opened on the Sutton Bug cinema site after its closure a quarter of a century later - according to the St.Helens Newspaper of 1/4/1938, it used to be kept by a Betty or Bess Seddon "whose vigour in keeping unruly customers in order was such that she was given the name of Hell Bess" - In February 1894 license transferred from Rosanna Brownbill to Henry Johnson -

• Elephant Inn - Edward Bromilow, licensee in 1800 -

• Engine and Tender - Bold Road / Reginald Road, Sutton Leach - Served as both a farm house for Leach Hall Farm and a public house - Jacob Wood licensee in 1884 - Closed 1st or 6th March, 1938 - last landlord and farmer was Mr. Garton. He was offered the new pub that was being built in Mill Lane, which was to have also been called Engine and Tender, but turned it down - The pub was renowned for its gambling both on and off the premises.

• Engine - John Bromilow had the license in 1800 -

• Engine Shed Inn - Baxters Lane - John Thomas Addison granted license in 1891, George Shaw in 1894, John Morris 1895 -

• Farmers Arms - 1 Bold Road at its junction with Normans Lane - Anne Livesley publican in 1891 -

• George and Dragon - Peasley Cross Lane - William Duxburry licensee in 1891 -
• Glasshouse Tavern - Watery Lane - In the Liverpool Mercury of July 19th, 1878 the Glasshouse was offered for sale by auction.

• 
  Glassmakers Arms - 22 Waterdale Crescent (originally 22 Ditch Hillock) - Closed December 2009 - In April 1874 license transferred from Peter Sephton to Robert Bridge who was also a builder and Bridge was declared bankrupt in 1880 - In October 1884 license transferred from William Spencer to George Brown - In 1891 census the listed publican was James Bath - On February 7th, 1894 a "respectably-dressed middle-aged man"drank a pint of beer at the Glassmakers then went out back to an outhouse where he cut his throat; the Liverpool Mercury (8/2/1894) reported that it was "dreadfully cut from ear to ear" - An article in the St.Helens Reporter of October 6th, 1972 claimed that Londoners who'd moved to Sutton to work for Sidac had taken a shine to the Glassmakers Arms and had given it their own pet name:
    A new influx of "Cockney" office workers at British Sidac has taken to the Glassmakers Arms, in Waterdale Crescent, as a lunchtime local. Spotting the new facelifting job - including stylish stucco-type rough plaster walls (in proud Tudor fashion) they promptly dubbed it: The BLIND PLASTERER. 
  
  
  
  
• Golden Cross - 5 Church Street / Woodcock Street, 'Pudding Bag' - Thomas Archer licensee in 1884 - Samuel Cox licensee in 1891 - Ann Foster licensee in the early 1930s with Louie Holland mine host in 1935 and later Louise Hunter - Last licensee was said to be Mick Caulfield although another source says Joe Holland - Closed mid-sixties -

      
The Golden Cross pub in Woodcock Street, 'Pudding Bag', Sutton

• Griffin Hotel / Inn - 147 Peasley Cross Lane - Josiah Foden had the license in 1800 - Henry Houghton in 1891 -

• Hawk and Buck - 91 Peasley Cross Lane - Listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 - In August 1879 license transferred from James Bate to George Houghton who was still licensee in 1891 - James Cunliffe granted license in 1900 -

• Imperial Hotel / Inn - 354 Sutton Road - Opened in 1869 and listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 - David Jones listed as licensee in 1891 - In March 1980, 800 Sutton residents signed a petition to try to stop its closure after licensee Phil Soffe was refused a new license because of how the premises were being run -

• 
  Junction Inn - Junction Lane -

• Locomotive Inn - 78 Ellamsbridge Road, corner of Peckers Hill Road - Listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 - The Locomotive was nicknamed 'The Round House' by Suttoners - Spinster Ellen Haslam assisted by sister Margaret ran the pub in 1891 - On December 1st, 1896 two sinkers at Bold Colliery, Michael Flannery and Lawrence Garrity, got into an argument at the Locomotive whilst having a drink; the row spilled outside and led to Garrity of Normans Lane, Sutton receiving a serious stab wound to his neck; "blood", according to the Liverpool Mercury, "flowed profusely" (December 2nd, 1896) -

    
The Locomotive Inn in Peckers Hill Road

• 
  Manor Arms - 351 Sutton Road - Renamed 'The Pickled Egg' after pubgoers' nickname for the hostelry - Charles Green licensee in 1891 - In February 1894 license transferred from Thomas Waywell to Valentine Walls -

• Mechanics Arms - Ellamsbridge Road - In August 1882 license transferred from Alexander Laird to James Felix - Samuel Mason granted license in 1893 - In February 1894 license transferred to Edward Williams - nicknamed 'Staffordshire Knot'

• Mill House Inn - Mill Lane - The Mill House pub in Mill Lane, Sutton takes its name from the former water mill that was located on the opposite side of the road - On December 29th, 1881 78-year-old labourer Samuel Helsby of Marshalls Cross was burned to death in the taproom at the Mill House; he probably fell asleep over the fire - In November, 1899 brothers-in-law Thomas Holland and Ambrose Price were convicted of wounding licensee John Latimer by breaking a poker over the landlord's head and Holland was fined 15 shillings.
  
  
  
  William J. Cope had been a skilled sailmaker on a sailing ship and had long connections with the sea prior to pulling pints at the Mill House. When he left the pub as licensee, he took nearby premises and became a successful tent and marquee maker. In July 1909 when King Edward V11 visited Knowsley Hall, to inspect detachments of the Territorial Army, Lord Derby ordered a tent from Cope to accommodate a shooting party. The family enterprise eventually closed in 1967.
  
  In 1983 £70,000 was spent by Tetley Walker in refurbishing the Mill House.

• 
  Navigation Tavern Inn - William Bate licensee in 1800, George Nortcliffe in 1863 - Numerous inquests were held at the pub during the 19th century - It was in close proximity to St.Helens Canal and many deaths were suicides or accidental drownings such as on June 20th 1868 when 50-year-old William Gillibrand of Greenough Row, Sutton threw himself into the canal by the tavern - In 1876 new premises were built -

• New Vaults - Peasley Cross Lane - listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 - James Moyers licensee in 1891 -

• Oak Tree Inn - Ellamsbridge Road - major building contractor John Whittaker, who was 31 stone, was licensee c.1880 -

• Off Licenses: - 253 New Street - In May 1900 license transferred from Edward Needham to W.Stockley - 10 Grimshaw Street - In May 1900 license transferred from Francis Helsby to Thomas Sephton -

• Pig and Whistle - Ell Bass Lane (later Sherdley Road) - in August 1879 license transferred from James Marsh to Peter Marsh -
  

• Plough Inn - Hoghton Road - Closed September 1912 -

• 
  Prince of Wales - 2 Junction Lane - In April 1874 license transferred from Margaret Houghton to Ellen Kenyon who in the 1891 census was listed as the 78-year-old licensee with Ellen's grandson John Houghton as manager and later licensee -

• Queen's Arms - Listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 -

• Queen's Head - Worsley Brow - closed 10th March, 1931 -

• Railway Inn - 10/12 Worsley Brow - Listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 and the 1891 census with publican William Burrows - Closed 18th January, 1935 -
  

• 
  Red Lion Inn - Robins Lane - The Red Lion has been nicknamed 'The Glass Barrel' - The original Red Lion Hotel was demolished in 1963 and a new pub was built on land at its rear - The landlord in December 1871 was Hamlet Norris - Landlord Thomas Lunt was made bankrupt in 1879 - In 1892 an application was made to transfer the Red Lion's license from James Baldwin to James Pilkington. However, doubts were raised as to the moral fibre of Pilkington with one newspaper reporting allegations that he was a ladies man:
    Chief Constable Wood stated at the last transfer day that he had been informed that Pilkington had got five women into trouble, and he opposed the granting of the license until he had made inquires into the matter. Since then one young woman had taken out a summons against Pilkington, and it would come on for hearing on Friday next. He had not heard anything further as to the other four women. In answer to Mr H. L. Riley who appeared for Pilkington, Chief Constable Wood stated that he knew Pilkington denied the paternity of the child. He also knew that the girl had made the same charge against a member of the police force. Mr Riley addressed the court on Pilkington's behalf, stating his sister would attend to all the domestic arrangements of the house. Pilkington had received a testimonial of the highest possible character from his former employers Messers Pilkington Brothers for several years service. (Liverpool Mercury 14/6/1892)

  William Lythgoe was granted the license at Red Lion in 1894 - Sarah Armstrong granted license c.1896 - Former manager John Armstrong declared bankrupt in February 1900 - Charles H. Rainford granted license in 1900 from Sarah Battersby who'd had it transferred from her husband - Elizabeth Cole granted temporary license in June, 1916 as her husband who was the landlord had been called up to join the army -
  
  

• Red Rat Inn - 2 Ellamsbridge Road - Closed 29th January, 1927 - John Rimmer was one of the last licensees - In Frank Bamber's 'Clog Clatters of Old Sutton', he states his belief that the pub was so named because of the residues of rouge used in glassmaking, which when discharged into the Sutton Brook, coloured the water and the creatures in it red -

• Rolling Mill Tavern - 31 Watery Lane - Kept by the McDermott family for many years and nicknamed 'Snig's Foot'

Licensee of the Rolling Mill Tavern at 31 Watery Lane, Michael McDermott
and family, put on their Sunday best for the camera!

• Ship Inn - William Houghton licensee in 1800

• Soldier - Peasley Cross Lane - Closed 1906

• Stanley Inn - Peasley Cross Lane - Listed in Worrall's Directory of 1871 - On June 19th, 1896 the licensee John Webster was fined 10 shillings for being drunk on his own premises - On November 26th, 1890 coal dealer and carter George Eccleston sued landlord William Duxbury for £50 damages as a result of Duxbury's fox terrier biting him on his thigh when he was delivering coal to the Stanley Inn - In May 1900 license transferred from John Cunliffe to William Chadwick - Closed in 1932 or 1936 -
  

• 
  Swan Inn - Baxters Lane - Thomas Leyland granted license in 1890 - Closed 1910 -

• Sutton Arms - Corner of Sherdley Road and Elephant Lane

• Three Tuns - Jane Finney was licensee in 1800

• Tipping Arms - Bold - In August 1882 license transferred from James Melling to Thomas Langhorn -

• Victoria Vaults - 32 Ellamsbridge Road - Nicknamed 'The Little Pig' as it was located close to Fletcher's slaughterhouse and was so listed on the 1891 census with licensee William Almond. Now bears both names - In 1871 there were three pubs called Victoria in St.Helens - In December 1871 James Kenyon transferred the license to Ellen Kenyon -

• Vulcan Inn - Peckers Hill Road - In April 1874 license transferred from George Sephton to Thomas Appleton -

• Wheatsheaf Hotel (1st) - Lionel Street by the Junction Station (listed as 2 May Place in 1891) - Robert Silcock was a publican - last landlord was demolition contractor Dave Rothwell - closed 1938 -

• Wheatsheaf Hotel (2nd) - Mill Lane, Sutton Leach opened in 1938 - Frank Bamber in his memoirs 'Clog Clatters of Old Sutton' described how brewers Greenalls gave a free pint to all who attended the opening with local preachers John Kitts and Billy 'Chippy' Southern unsuccessfully attempting to stop a large crowd from entering the new pub, warning that it was "the House of the Devil" - It was originally going to be called the new Engine and Tender but after the landlord of the old pub, Mr. Garton, turned down an offer to manage it, the pub was offered to Dave Rothwell who in accepting took with him the Wheatsheaf name -

• White Angel - Nook Lane - nicknamed 'The Blazing Stump' - built in 1762 -

• The Wind Mill - William Liptrot mine host in 1820 -

BOOKMARK AND SHARE THIS SUTTON BEAUTY & HERITAGE PAGE!      

Next:  Part 19)  Sutton Sport;     Research Sources, References & Bibliography;     

Sutton Beauty & Heritage's History Pages:

01)  Township of Sutton & St.Helens;        |       02)  Lords & Masters;
03)  Michael Hughes of Sherdley;        |       04)  The Sherdley Estate;
05)  Sutton's Halls & Houses        |       06)  Dr. Henry Baker Bates;
07)  Religion in Sutton;        |       08)  Rev. Henry Vallancey;
09)  Education in Sutton;        |       10)  Mineworking in Sutton;
11)  Sutton Manor Colliery #1;        |       12)  Sutton Manor Colliery #2;
13)  Clock Face Colliery;        |       14)  Industry in Sutton Township;
15)  Sutton Transport;        |       16)  Sutton Transport Timeline;
17)  Health & Sanitary Conditions;        |       18)  Old Sutton Pubs
19)  Sport in Sutton;        |       20)  Rapid Rise of Sutton Harriers;
21)  Leisure & Entertainment;        |       22)  Sutton Streetnames;
23)  Pudding Bag;        |       24)  Notorious & Curious Crime;
25)  Sutton Tragedy #1;        |       26)  Sutton Tragedy #2;
27)  What's Wrong With Sutton?       |      28)  How Sutton Has Changed;
29)  Classified Ads #1;        |       30)  Classified Adverts #2;
31)  Memories of Sutton;        |       32)  Sutton Trivia & True Facts;
33)  Research Sources & References;       |     34)  Clog Clatters;     

Plus 11 Photo-Albums:   Sutton's Lords & Masters;      Sherdley Estate;
Religion & Education;    Transport;    Sport, Leisure & Entertainment;
Sutton Streets;     Sutton Manor Colliery#1;    Sutton Manor Colliery#2;
Sutton Manor Colliery#3;      Clock Face Colliery;      Sutton Industry;

Sutton Beauty & Heritage Main Home Page