Bosbury Public Houses —
A review of the situation in 1914.
From the ABERGAVENNY MAIL, SATURDAY FEBRUARY 28 1914, page 8 columns 3 and 4
LEDBURY ADJOURNED LICENSING SESSIONS.
The adjourned annual licensing sessions for the Petty Sessional Division of Ledbury were held at the Police Court, Ledbury, on Wednesday. The justices present were :—Alderman John Riley (in the chair), Mr Spencer H Bickham, Mr J Wilfred Hewitt, Mr R Buchanan, Dr Miles A Wood, Mr Fred Ballard and Mr E H Hopkins.
THE BROOK INN, BOSBURY.
The license of the Brook Inn, Bosbury, was next considered. The owners are Mrs Homes and Miss Inett, the lessees the Royal
Well Brewery Co., Ltd., and the tenant Mr E C Reynolds.
Mr H W Orme appeared) for the brewers and tenants, and Mr C A F Stewart (from the office of Mr C E Lilley, Ledbury), appeared for the owners.
Supt. Williams said the Brook Inn was a beerhouse, containing tap-room 14ft by 10ft 6in, sitting-room 10ft 6in by 10ft, back kitchen l1ft 6in by 10ft, and cellar 16ft by 13ft. There were four bedrooms. There was some land and outbuildings with the house. The poor-rate assessment was £22 10s gross and £13 nett, and the land £18 gross and £16 nett. There were two fully-licensed houses in the village and four beerhouses including the Brook. The population was 852. The distance from the Brook to the Bell was 770 yards, from the Bell to the Crown 132 yards, and in that distance there was a beerhouse, the New Inn. There were 12 houses in the vicinity of the Brook, and 32 near the three licensed houses in the village itself. The present tenant was the second since witness came into the Division. He did not consider the house was required in the interests of the public.
By Mr Orme: The Oak and the Old Country beerhouses were at the extreme ends of the parish and were 21/2 miles apart. On the north side of the Brook the nearest house was the Wheat Sheaf at Froome’s Hill.
P.C. Douglas Evans, now stationed at Pontrilas and formerly for 11 years stationed at Bosbury, said the Brook Inn seemed to do the average trade of a country public-house. There was no necessity for this license, as half-a-mile away there were four public houses in a radius of half-a-mile with under 30 male adult house-holders. On the Evesbatch road there was no house for over a mile it was a very barren, sparsely populated district. There were no hopyards on the road past the Brook. The place was not necessary for the hop-picking season, and in fact was a particular nuisance, as hop-pickers turned out of the village in a drunken condition would eventually find their way up to the Brook and the soberest of the party would get drink there. The tenant had done his best to stop it, but he could not always manage to do so.
By Mr Orme: He was of opinion that the New Inn could very well be done without in preference to the Brook.
Mr Orme said so far as the situation of the Brook Inn at Bosbury, it had a better right to have the license renewed than either the Bell or the New Inn. He put in a photograph which was taken at closing time one Sunday afternoon at the request of the landlord, which showed that there was a very respectable crowd there. The trade done was not such as a man could make his fortune there, but there was a good living for a man. He had a petition signed by 204 people in favour of the renewal of the license.
Edward Reynolds, tenant of the Brook, said he had 10 or 11 acres of land, and catered for lodgers. He had on an average four or five lodgers a week throughout the year, and for 15 months had eight staying there permanently. He had people put up there, and supplied a good deal of bread and cheese to people coming from Froome’s Hill and Evesbatch. Last year he sold 11 hogsheads of cider, about £30 worth of tobacco and cigars, and about two barrels of beer per week. He was leaving the house, as he wanted one without land and was going to one at Malvern. He paid £15 a year rent.
Wilfred Thomas Bexon, of the Royal Well Brewery Co., Ltd., said in 1911 they supplied 72 barrels of beer, and the equivalent of 9 barrels in bottled beer and stout; in 1912 82 and 11; and in 1913, 87 and 8. In the latter year also they supplied 42 dozen mineral waters. The trade of the house had been gradually rising for some years.
Thomas Bosley, farmer, Bentleys, said his farm was half-a-mile past the Brook, and he thought the house should have a license. It was used as a calling place.
Allen Fletcher, farmer, Long Acre, Bosbury, said he found the house a convenience to him self. The Bench decided to refer this house to the compensation authority.
[Note: The Royal Well Brewery Company was in business from 1903 to 1931]
NLW, Welsh Newspapers Online accessed June 2016, BSS.
