History
Before 1800
to 1860
1860 to 1870
after 1870
Victoria Hotel
GREAT HARWOOD
PUBLIC HOUSES
Depending
on your point of view there are too few or too many public houses
in Great Harwood and both of these opinions have been aired in the past.
In
the middle of the 16th century the government thought that drinking (of
alcohol presumably)
had become such a great problem that they had to act and it is because
of this that records began to be kept of licences issued in Great Harwood.
Strict rules were applied to the quality and price of ale and beer, which
games were allowed in the house or garden and restrictions placed on the
serving of meat and drink on Holy days and Sundays.
The oldest surviving records are from 1635 when there were six ale-houses
but only the ale-house keepers' names are given not the name or location
of their premises. By 1655 the number had been reduced to four probably
because, as elsewhere, Cromwell's Commonwealth looked unkindly on ale-houses
not simply out of religious conviction but because they were meeting places
and so possible sites of riot or revolt. The innkeepers themselves were
under scrutiny for more than the quality of their ale "Three
suspected"
was written on the grant for that year.
For over two hundred years the number of ale-house licences fluctuated
between four and seven with the addition, now and then, of the odd beer-house
selling a milder beer but no wines or spirits. It was not until the middle
of the nineteenth century with the building of the cotton mills and the
population growing to over 3,000 that more licences were granted.
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PUBS LICENSED UP TO 1860 |
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LICENCES GRANTED 1860 TO 1870 |
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THE
VICTORIA HOTEL |
AND FINALLY
If in reading these pages it seems that I have something
against Scottish and Newcastle, I have.
I started my drinking career on Matthew Brown's Lion Mild, Thwaites Mild,
and Whitbread Best Mild, and although I enjoy the multitude of bitters
now available I still drink mild and this is my grudge against S & N.
When they bought Matthew Brown they bought an excellent mild and even
after shutting the Cumbrian and Blackburn operations continued to brew
it in other locations. Gradually, however, they have replaced it with
Theakston's (which was owned by Matthew Brown)
Mild, a worthy pint but not, in my humble opinion, a patch on Lion.
Two black and white photos from Mrs. Goodliffe the others and all the historical work were lifted (sometimes verbatim) from the research and writings of Louie Pollard and Harry E. Eaton. All I can claim is some enjoyable drinking, the spelling mistakes, the sentiments and the colour photos, I'll email larger copies if you want. ifinwig
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Designed
and written by ifinwig
Last
updated 11th June 2004
All rights and a bar stool reserved.