The Village pubs and brew houses
The village has had six public houses in its known history. Three of these sat in the Square. there were two Bulls facing each other, the Bowling Green Public House tucked up in the corner. The Farmer's Arms which used to be a brew house as well as a public house and in the past two Lions.
In the past the local public houses were notorious for riotous behaviour having dog fights, cock fights and badger baiting. They were at one point stopped from serving drink on a Sunday, with all public houses having a six day licence.
The two lions were the red Lion and the White Lion. the White Lion was at the end of Barrow's Lane; the position of the Red Lion was unknown. Both of these public houses have vanished and as they were around before the earliest village maps were produced or the census then their location will remain a mystery.
The Black Bull Inn.
This old Inn sat on the original Square and is a wattle and daub building and was an old coaching inn. Note the large doorway; this is due to the fact that it used to have a revolving door. Stabling for the property was situated behind the building and the stables can still be seen..
During the second world war the Black Bull became the haunt of the bookies running. Long before the advent of booking shops bookies used to employ runners to take the bets of punters and the monies for these bets and then take them to the Black Bull. This practice was illegal and known to the police. One local resident who was a bookies runner, a mere 10 year old took the takings and the bets to the Black Bull one night in a basket with his father's empty beer bottles and then returned with his father's winnings in the form of full beer bottles. he was stopped by the local bobby (police) who asked him 'what was in the basket?'. the bot replied ms' dad's beer. Lucky he wasnt caught on the way to the pub.
The Bowling Green
This was a public house until the 1900s then in later life it was a garage complete with petrol pumps in front of the building. It is said that the petrol tanks, now empty are still in situ in front of the property. It is now owned by the Holden family and is a private residence. In 1841 the innkeeper was Robert Warring.
This building, known as Western House is a grade II listed building.
The White Bull Inn
This is situated on the Northern side of the Square complete with stabling, cottages and a barn for animal feed. This takes up the whole of one side of the Square. The barn is now the dentists. In the 19th Dentury the White Bull shows that it once owned by Thomas eaves which was blazonned on top of the building as Tom Eaves White Bull Hotel. At that time the building was not as fancy as it is now with a flat front (no bow windows) with no peaked roof or verandah. The Hotel sign was to the right of the existing middle upstairs window. At the door of the Hotel were stoops for tethering horses. Although during the cattle fairs held in the Square they were used for cattle. One way of stopping people entering the pub was to tether a bull to it.
The buildings between the Bull and its stable (now the dentist) were cottages, with at least one built by Richard Leckonby whose initials can be seen on the structure. This stone was lost some time ago but was put back in the last re-building.
The Farmer's Arms
At the top of chapel Street is another old pub the Farmer’s arms which used to have its own pond and garden. This was different to the other pubs in the village in that it brewed its own beer.