The Bar Man - A spot Reserved for sign
Recent visitors to the True’s Yard museum at Lynn may have noticed a display featuring the recently-acquired sign that used to hang outside when part of the building was the Naval Reserve pub.
Many will remember this establishment, but few will be aware that it was not the only pub to occupy this site.
Next door, on St Anne’s Street, the Fox and Hounds was opened by William Turrell in 1854. In 1871 it was renamed the Alexandra Inn, probably to reflect the name of the Alexandra Dock which had been completed a couple of years earlier. The beers were supplied by local brewer Elijah Eyres, later taken over by Morgans, and it continued to operate until it was closed by compensation in 1918.
Meanwhile, next door the Naval Reserve was established in in the 1850s by Joseph Flanders who was a pipemaker by trade. By the 1861 census he was described as an innkeeper and was living on the premises with his wife Mahala and eight children, but he had not forgotten his former occupation as he is described as pushing a cart around the bar selling pipes, whilst wearing a tall black hat.
By 1886 a further eight licensees had been in charge of the pub before James Greenwood took over. A colourful character, he spent time in the Army, was also ringmaster of Mr Lord George Sanger’s circus, and an associate of a Mr T Tuby who was the first man to show living pictures at Lynn Mart. James travelled around the country, earning himself the nickname Aunt Sally, as he owned a coconut shy which he introduced to Lynn Mart. In later life he became a butcher, and had a shop nearby in St Anne’s Street as well as trading on the market and around the villages with a pony and cart.
He kept the pub about 18 years, living on the premises with an assortment of children, grandchildren and lodgers, before retiring to Bird’s Yard off Pilot Street. At this time the Naval Reserve was a beer house, tied to the Bagge brewery, later taken over by Steward and Patteson and then Watney Mann.
It did not acquire a full licence until 1962 when one was transferred from the closing Dock Hotel, across the road. The Naval Reserve had been lucky to survive the war, being damaged by enemy action twice in 1941 and once again in 1943, but what the bombers couldn’t do, businessmen did.
The sign on display is from its final years when it was owned by Brent Walker, a property company founded by George Walker, the brother of the boxer Billy. The company went broke in 1991 with debts of £1.2 billion, and that was the end of many of their pubs, including the Naval Reserve.
My memories of the pub are playing dominoes there in the 80s and once losing a quiz match to a team mostly composed of Morris Dancers.
Older patrons may remember a display of around 80 dolls in national costumes collected by Avril, the daughter of the licensees Olive and Donald Fall, who ran the pub in the 60s. I am writing a label to accompany the pub sign in the museum, so any further information would be welcome.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Monday 20 May 2013
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Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
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