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LANDLORDS OF THE HORNS
LODGE
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Mr & Mrs George Fredrick Stevens -
The last Page & Overton landlord was
Mr
and Mrs George Frederick Stevens.
They took over the public house on 4th
January 1946. The
Tenancy cost them the princely sum of
£100, which was a lot of money at
this time. To give you some idea of how
run down the pub was on this take over,
take a look at the
valuation for the stock and the
final settlement. Even in those days
it was very low.
The history of the pub was an ale
house. So at this time the public house
could not sell spirits or wines. The
licence was solely for Ale and Perry.
When
"Fred", as he was known locally, took
over, he had three tenants. Mr
Lowry the previous landlord we have
described in the detached cottage.
In the middle attached cottage lived a Mr
Smith who was a shoe maker. It is
believed he made shoes on the
premises. In around 1955
in a pub expansion program the cottage
was knocked through and turned into what was
then the new lounge. The end
cottage, was let to a third tenant
Mr
& Mrs Charley Taylor.
Mr Taylor was a roadman, his wife an
unofficial midwife. She also took on
another unofficial role of the "layer
out" of the deceased.
See the picture
of him and his wife at the rear of the
pub outside their cottage.
The rent for these properties at the
time was four shillings and 3 pence (4/3d)
(21p) a week for the detached
cottage and four shillings (4/0d) (20p) a week for
each of the other
two.
The beer of the time was not pulled with
pumps but taken direct from the barrel
with brass taps. Under the bar
were two wooden beams, the back one
higher than the front one. The lower
beam had a worm and wheel driven cradle
to place the wooden barrel on and then
chocked with wooden chocks at the rear.
The barrels, after being moved to the
bar, were allowed to settle. The
bung or
shive which was on the side
of the barrel when upright was now on the top,
as the barrel was now in the laid down
position. After
about 48 hours settling the top bung or
shive was
struck through with a siphon spile. This
had a plunger tap on it and took off any
foam and gas in the barrel. The dreggs
were
put into a waste bucket via an attached
rubber tube. The tap
was then struck into the end of the barrel
and beer taken off and checked. The
siphon spile was replaced with a wooden
spile, left ajar to stop
unwanted objects
getting into the barrel but enough to
allow air in. When the beer was
getting low the wheel on the front
cradle was turned thus allowing the
barrel to tilt and get the last of the beer
out. The pub stocked a vast selection of
beers in bottles and barrel. Just take a
look at the
picture behind the bar.
To the right of the pub where the side
car park is now situated, were chicken coops
where chickens were raised. There was
also a stable which was let to a man only known
as Karkee.
He was a saddler by trade and made every
type of horse tack, including children’s
riding baskets. He always parked
his old horse box under the large tree
which is still there. Behind the stables
were three caravans which were also let
out to tenants. These were introduced by
Fred for extra income.
"Fred" had a son called Harry Stevens.
He used to run the pub when Fred and his
wife went away on holiday during the
summers. Harry has since written a book
about his life.
There is an extract from this book which
covers aspects of the Horns Lodge.
Fred and Ina left the pub on their retirement
in approximately 1972.
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