Public Houses in Barnstaple 1837-1897

By Jonathan Frayne

Note that until 1869 only fully licensed premises needed a license from the magistrates. Beerhouses were not required to be licensed until then having hitherto only paid a fee to the excise department and automatically received the license they needed. Beerhouses were often shortlived and were commonly known as "tiddlywink shops". At the annual fair time there was a widely exercised "right" for anyone to sell liquor. All they had to do was to display "bush" outside their front door to let everyone know they were open for business.

In 1837 there were 81 fully licensed premises according to the Magistrates' Clerk office:

Additionally in 1847 are listed:

It seems reasonable to assume that most of these premises are listed above, but have changed their names. The Railway Hotel and Victoria Inn clearly couldn't have had those names in 1837.

For comparison here are the inns listed in White's Directory of 1850, there are 59 of them I believe, but the beerhouses and Wine and Spirit Cellars are separately listed:

Beerhouses (26 of them):

Wine and Spirit Merchants (8 of them):

In 1855 the number of licensed premises fell to 73, but again there were new names:

In 1867 there were 84 fully-licensed houses. The new names include:

Note that the Farmers' Inn in Holland Street was formerly the Royal Oak.

By 1875 the 'new' licensing system had bedded down and the beerhouses had become licensed premises. In that year there were 89 licenses granted. The new names included Castle Hotel, Park Hotel, Devon and Somerset Hotel (formerly Mariners' Arms) and Poltimore Arms (formerly Bull Inn).

In 1887 the Braunton Inn is licensed under the name of the Clarence Hotel.

Here are the names and addresses of all 67 fully licensed houses in Barnstaple in 1897:

The Great Western Hotel was formerly the Devon and Somerset Inn and that in its turn was formerly the Mariners' Arms. Over the 60 years the following licensed premises closed by 1897. The list is not intended to be exclusive :

Shipwrights' Arms, Square
Greyhound, Square
Black Horse, Square
The Coach and Horses, Maiden Street
Hollow Tree, Newport
Prince of Wales, Newport
Ebrington Arms, Newport
Newport Inn, Newport
The Bristol Inn, Litchdon Street
Dolphin, opposite Brannams Pottery
Malt Scoop, Ship, Britannia (all where Bridge Buildings now stand)
Red Lion (opposite the Black Horse)
Star Inn (demolished when the fish shambles were removed)
White Lion, Castle Street
Bremridge's Arms, Tuly Street
Miller's Arms, Boutport Street
Unicorn, Pilton
Ring of Bells, Pilton
Priory Arms, Priory, Pilton
Ilfracombe Inn, Littabourne
Fountain Inn, Holland Street
Elephant Inn, Elephant Lane
Sailors' Home, Cross Street
Theatre Inn, High Street,
Boot, High Street
Jolly Butcher, High Street
Boar's Head, High Street (both these latter removed in 1826 but once stood on either side of the Guildhall)
Wellington Arms, High Street
Castle, High Street
Falcon, Joy Street
Greyhound,
Malt Scoop, Anchor Lane
Fox and Goose, Anchor Lane
Butchers' Arms, Anchor Lane
Seven Stars, Anchor Lane
Town Arms, Anchor Lane
Ring of Bells, Anchor Lane
Beehive (formerly Bakers' Inn), Green Lane
Malsters' Inn, Boutport Street
Railway Hotel, Boutport Street
Golden Shakespeare, Boutport Street
Victoria (formerly the Golden Ball), Boutport Street
Fullers' Arms (later Turf Tavern), Boutport street
Albion Tap, Trinity Street
Brickmakers' Inn, Trinity Street
White Ball, Trinity Street
Northmolton Inn, Bear Street
Newington Inn, Derby
Dolphin, Higher Maudlin Street
Victoria, High Maudlin Street
King William, Higher Maudlin Street
Half Moon, Higher Maudlin Street
North Star, Lower Maudlin Street
Masons' Arms, Gaydon Street
Recruiting Sergeant, North Walk

From these latter addresses it is likely that many of the addresses of the premises not found in 1837/47 could now be identified.

The foregoing is drawn from W. F. Gardner, "Barnstaple 1837-1897", Barnstaple (1897). Additional material has been taken from White's Trade Directory 1850.