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The Greyhound |
Photo by Steve Sumner |
The
Greyhound at Meeting Green was originally a thatched
house before it started serving ale in the middle of the 19th Century.
The Green family took it over in the early twenties, when it was still
thatched, and had family connections with it until the fifties. For
most of the post-war years up to 1974 the Greyhound was run by Ted
Hicks and his wife. The Hick’s
are a prominent family in Wickhambrook and the surrounding villages,
with roots going back many generations. At least ninety per cent of
the customers were local born people. At weekends in particular it
would be buzzing with Suffolk voices, dialect and laughter.
Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes you will still hear some Suffolk voices,
although they are not so strong or so many as they used to be. Laughter
is still there, and in plenty as the customers, young and old, enjoy
the company provided by Stuart and Averil. With its
live bands, discos and karaoke nights at weekends, it serves a very
useful function in providing entertainment for the young people.
Mark you, the not so young are still represented weekend lunchtimes
and weekday evenings, some participating in dominoes, crib and darts.
You can also visit Stuart and Averil's own website
for The Greyhound which gives details of the events
planned for the year ahead as well as other information.
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Plumbers Arms - temporarily
closed |
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The origins of the Plumbers
Arms goes back to the 1700s, and until a few years back
the boundary of Denston and Wickhambrook ran though the property.
In the old days it catered for horse drawn travellers with accommodation
for people, horses and carts. Up until the twenties apparently it
was referred to as the Plumbers Arms Commercial Hotel.
Matt and the team will be happy to welcome you to the Plumbers Arms,
a pub for the young, old and those in between, spirits will be high
especially around the pool table with gentle
encouragement from spectators, Spirits aren’t necessarily only
kept behind the bar at the Plumbers, the resident ghost makes an appearance
from time to time by throwing the odd picture off the wall…
but don’t worry too much as Matt says he hasn’t experienced
anything yet since taking over in September. So pop and in enjoy a
pint, warm yourself by the roaring fire, have a game of pool or simply
take the time for a chat with the regulars.
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Wickhambrook Pubs of
the Past
The role of the pub in a living village has far more importance as
a meeting place than does a city or town pub. The other meeting places
are the Churches, Chapels
and Village Shop.
The Greyhound
is Wickhambrook’s only true surviving pub as The Plumbers
Arms, although used by Wickhambrook people, is in Denston by a few
yards. In the past there were nine other pubs, or even more, in the
Wickhambrook area. Some of them were quite modest ale houses, with
perhaps a single room of the house for drinking. The most famous of
these, which closed in September 1989, was the Cloak Inn. |
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The Cloak, now a private house, was
much older than most people thought: what was the lounge bar and kitchen
went back to the 16th century. It was believed to have first been
an ale house in the late 18th century. In those early days it was
also a butcher’s shop. It remained an independent pub, brewing
its own beer on the premises, right up until the thirties, when the
last independent landlord sold it to Greene King. It was a favourite
haunt of R.A.F. aircrews from nearby Stradishall during the war, where
many had their last pint before being shot down over Germany.
From 1965 until 1975 Jack Mortlock was the landlord, when the pub,
although decidedly old fashioned, was a popular venue. When he left
the pub there was a succession of six different landlords and their
wives until Greene King decided to close. Apparently, like so many
country pubs it was no longer profitable enough.
The first new tenant had been a former paint chemist. He had spent
many years in Malaysia. He knocked the two bars into one, installed
new loos, exposed more beams and took the pub from the thirties to
the seventies without diminishing its character. He had aspirations
as a master chef and modern pub grub arrived in Wickhambrook. Due
to his and his much younger wife’s predilections for the bottle
there were times when what you received did not quite match up to
what you ordered. Nevertheless, the jolly couple, as with most of
their successors, ensured that the Cloak became the choice of venue
for couples out for the evening, various ‘characters’
of the village and surrounding areas, and later the Cricket club.
Many an eventful Christmas Eve and New Year’s Party was held
there, particularly with the last couple to hold the sacred office,
Dick and Angie from Cambridge. |
In the October 1978 issue of
The Scene, and republished in “Ten
Miles from Anywhere”, the late Jack Mortlock gave
the following review of the other ‘Local Inns and Common Ale
Houses’ that once existed in the area. The smaller places were
started when it became known that a man could make a good drop of
home brew and was willing to let others come to his place and pay
a penny or tuppence a pint to drink it. This was before licensing
hours were introduced during the First World War.
The
Black Horse at Farley Green, always known as the ‘Blister’
on the boundary between Wickhambrook and Stradishall. Much used by
Gypsies and diddicoys; many a shady deal in broken winded horses,
lurcher dogs and game took place. A long high-backed wooden seat known
as a ‘settle’ was in the passage way by the back door,
usually occupied by the women and children, who were not allowed to
get mixed up in the deals and fights that took place in the bar. The
own of the place, the Squire of Stradishall, closed it down after
the First World War, because of its reputation and the amount of game
that was being poached from his land. It was later a bakery and now
a private home.
The Walnut Tree at Attleton
Green was always known as the ‘sizzle’. There are two
explanations for this title. One that the seisal plant for making
rope grew nearby. The other and more likely, was that the landlord
was a butcher; fond of eating well and often had a pan of homemade
pork sausages sizzling in a pan on the hob.
Some, who can remember back fifty years or more, will recall that
several of the Sizzle regulars were known by nicknames only. Sqibby
who lived in an old caravan nearby, Old Waters, Benzoom Towser, Nabs,
Cobbler Billie and Tooty Foot were just a few. The pub was closed
after the Second World War and is now an attractive home.
The Queens Head beyond Genesis Green, always known
as the Wickham Queen. The landlord had a business as a carrier taking
goods and passengers to Newmarket twice a week. Until its closure
it was kept by the Sittle family. It is now a private home.
The Rose and Crown Hotel at Malting End was one of
the larger pubs and always referred to as the Crown. It was closed
at the beginning of the century. It had food and lodgings and a cart
and horse accommodation – Jack Mortlock occupied what was once
the ostler’s cottage.
The White Horse opposite
the church, formerly the doctor’s home and surgery – closed
in the early twenties. It is said that the landlord on holidays or
festive occasions employed a man to lead or wheelbarrow the drunks
to the triangle of grass at the entrance to Wash Lane and to leave
them until they recovered. It is reputed that a tunnel used to lead
from the White Horse under the road to the rectory.
The
Red House closed many years ago. Reputedly a ‘rum old
place’, sometimes referred to as the ‘Blood Tub’
– you could apparently get a pint of strong beer and a ‘thick
ear’ for tuppence.
The Depot at Ashfield
Green a thatched house just before Adersfield Hall, a beer house and
coal merchants, closed many years ago.
The Black
Horse the last house in Wickhambrook on the Hargrave Road
– now a fruit farm. Just remembered as a pub by the older inhabitant. |
History of the Pubs extracted from
The Scene : Millennium Edition : 2000 |
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