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Cliftonville Inn, George Street
Judy Middleton (2001 revised 2023)
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| copyright © J.Middleton This photograph was taken on 22 July 2014 and shows the exterior of the Cliftonville Inn in all its flowering glory consisting of nine hanging baskets and two wall-attached baskets. |
In July 1995 Brighton Magistrates granted a licence to J.D. Wetherspoon to convert the empty Tesco’s building in George Street into a pub. The company also had planning permission from Hove Council. It was expected the conversion would cost in the region of £800,000 and it was stated it would become one of Sussex’s first music-free town centre pubs, which also banned pool tables and children.
There was some opposition, particularly from the Brighton & Hove Victuallers’ Association and they went on to fight the application in court. They stated it was unfair competition because large multiples were able to buy their beer more cheaply in bulk and therefore could sell at a price the average publican could not afford to match. The Revd Christopher Breeds, vicar of nearby St Andrew’s Old Church, expressed great concern owing to the fact the churchyard had been plagued by vandalism, which he feared was caused by people who had drunk too much.
The powers-that-be decided to call their new enterprise the Cliftonville Inn, which was rather strange because there had already been two Cliftonvilles at Hove, one in Goldstone Villas (now The Station), the other in Hove Place (now the Red Lion). It would have been more sensible to choose the Royal George since there had once been a pub of that name occupying part of this very site. If that name had been chosen, they would have been bang on trend with the birth of Prince George of Cambridge in 2013.
The Cliftonville Inn opened at Christmas time 1995 and Jaime and Jane Lockwood were in charge. The pub provided 2,400 square feet of open-plan space with just chairs and tables and not a pub game in sight.
By January 1996 local licencees were lamenting that they could not compete because the price of a pint in Wetherspoon’s was less than the price that a local pub had to pay to buy it in. Wetherspoon’s have a huge network and turnover and they are able to sell a pint of Carling for £1.49 (average price £1.91) a pint of Boddington’s for £1.29 (average price £1.71) and a Stella Artois for £1.89 (average price £2.29).
By 1999 Wetherspoon’s had 337 outlets spread over the whole of Britain and there were plans to open around 95 new ones. Their pre-tax profit for the year ending 1st August 1999 was put at £47.3 million.
By March 2000 the company owned 373 pubs. Chairman Tim Martin said he hoped to have 1,500 pubs in nine years’ time. It was also stated that during the last six months there had been a 44% increase in sales.
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| copyright © J.Middleton There is a more modest display of flowers in this photograph because it was taken in the spring. Note the term ‘Family Dining’ on the blue board. |
By January 2001 Wetherspoon’s had 466 outlets and half of them opened for a few hours on Christmas Day. For the five-week period leading up to New Year’s Day, the group posted total sales worth £49.7 million.
Today the Cliftonville Inn is still going strong. It seems to have softened its stance on the ‘no children’ rule because the board outside advertises ‘Family Dining’. You can eat an early breakfast there too. Like many other pubs, they too have caught on to the upswing of the taste for real ale and hold real ale festivals advertised outside on a large, plastic banner. The exterior is enhanced in the summer by several hanging baskets full of colourful flowers. This is even more of a bonus since the council decided that there was no money to spare on hanging baskets in George Street anymore. This is despite the fact that the four-branched iron columns were set up specifically to hold hanging baskets.
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| copyright © J.Middleton
This
dramatic facade is the newly renovated pub now occupying the site.
The
Royal George opened
on 10 August 2023 – see also under George Street
|
The Cliftonville
Inn
closed its doors early in 2023. There was much speculation as to what
business might be taking over the premises, especially when extensive
renovations were being carried out with scaffolding and skips
outside. On 10 August 2023 a new pub opened there called The
Royal George. It
is refreshing to note that an old name, appropriate to the site, has
been revived. Indigo Leisure are the new owners, and someone must
have an interest in local history because the firm also owns the Wick
Inn that
endured some dreadful names before having its original name
re-instated. (Argus
5/8/23)
See also George Street.
SourcesArgus
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Copyright © J.Middleton 2014
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Connaught Hotel, 48 Hove Street
Judy Middleton (2001 revised 2014)
Judy Middleton (2001 revised 2014)
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| copyright © J.Middleton The Connaught is an impressive looking building with the many large windows being a prominent feature. The photograph was taken on 17 March 2014. |
The site has a long connection with beer because before the pub was built there was an old malt house there. The Connaught Hotel (Hove Street) was built in 1880 and there is a date stone high up on the south side to confirm the fact. When it was built, the pub must have stood out like a sore thumb because it was quite isolated from all the building work going on elsewhere at Hove. Looking north east towards Church Road, there was still a barn and stables with an old flint wall on the south side while the level stretches of Aldrington were still virtually undeveloped.
It seems probable that the hotel was named after Prince Arthur William, Duke of Connaught (1850-1942). He was the third son born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and apparently he was her favourite son. He was born on 1st May 1850, which also happened to be the birthday of the great Duke of Wellington. The venerable Duke became the prince’s godfather. It is interesting to note that the Duke of Connaught later became one of the godparents of Queen Elizabeth II. As a boy the Duke of Connaught dreamed of a military career and ended up as a Field Marshal. The reason for naming the hotel after him was probably the popular interest in his recent marriage that took place on 13 March 1879 to Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
John Barnes was the first landlord of the Connaught and in the 1881 census he was aged 40 and living on the premises with his wife Esther, also aged 40, with their daughters Emily, 12 and Alice, 11 plus one servant. The family did not remain for long because by 1885 W. Sanders was running the hotel.
On 15 January 1885 Henry Longhurst (presumably the hotel’s owner) leased the Connaught’s urinal to the Hove Commissioners. This was a usual practice in those days and the same thing happened at the Aldrington Hotel and the Cliftonville Hotel. It saved the Hove Commissioners from the expense of building their own public conveniences.
In 1887 W. Sanders was still at the Connaught but by 1896 John Brown was in charge. In September 1896 John Brown complained to the Hove Commissioners about the flow of water from a standpipe near his premises. It was where the water carts used to come and fill up before trundling around Hove streets in hot, summer weather, spraying the surface to dampen down the dust.
By 1899 Alfred Peters was the landlord and he was still there in 1915. Like a number of Victorian and Edwardian pubs several activities were based at the pub. For instance, the Independent Order of Oddfellows (established at Hove in 1853) used to meet there and in 1909 the Hove Cyclists’ Club had their headquarters in the pub. Naturally enough there was a Slate Club to enable customers to make regular savings for special events, Christmas or for hard times. It also seems the hotel owned a field large enough to accommodate visiting circuses.
In April 1903 there was a huge dinner at the Connaught to celebrate the marriage of Arthur Charles Bertram Vallance to Miss Ivy Campbell, only child of Colonel Archibald Campbell (late of the Bengal Staff Corps) and Mrs Campbell (daughter of the distinguished soldier Major General Tronson). The actual wedding took place in Christ Church, Victoria Street, London, before a large and fashionable congregation. The dinner at the Connaught was for the many tenants of the Vallance Estate plus representatives of the inhabitants of Hove. The Vallances were one of the largest landowners in Hove and there were between 90 and 100 tenants at the dinner. Mr J.H. Lee, coachman to the late Major Vallance of Brooker Hall, was also present. Mr W.K. Stuart, chairman of the celebrations, said they were there to celebrate the marriage of the Squire of Hove and that ‘he had taken up his position in the town of Hove with a modesty and urbanity, which had disarmed criticism and won many friends.’ He was also described as ‘a thorough sportsman, a good shot, a good man at the hounds, and rode, drove and motored well’. The couple went on honeymoon to Paris.
By 1920 A.J. Peters ran the Connaught. The Elms family had the longest association with the hotel. By 1925 Frederick John Elms was the landlord and when he died Mrs Helena Elms managed the business and she was still in charge during the Second World War. During the 1950s Miss Nellie Elms was the landlady.
In July 1995 Bernard Akehurst and Rosemary Hall were co-licensees and were seeking to renew their licence to stage live music and karaoke nights. But a neighbouring couple in their seventies complained about excessive noise and a dubious clientele. Environment officials secretly installed a tape recorder in a nearby flat but found there was no evidence of excessive noise from the pub. A month later the couple complained again, saying they were unable to sit in their garden because of noise from the pub. But the pub people retorted they could not use their garden because the couple were always spying on them.
Unlike other Hove pubs the Connaught has kept its original name although it has dropped the ‘hotel’ part of it.
Argus
Census Records
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Copyright © J.Middleton 2014
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Cooper's Cask, 3 Farm Roadformerly Lansdowne Arms
Judy Middleton (2002 revised 2014)
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| copyright © J.Middleton This view of Cooper’s Cask was taken on 18 April 2014. Note the passageway on the right, which leads to what was once a mews. |
The Lansdowne Arms was first mentioned in the Directories in 1856 when Thomas Starr was the landlord and he continued to run it until the 1870s. In Brighton Museum there is a drawing of Tom Starr of the Lansdowne Arms by J. Watkins dated 1858. It is part of a collection of 52 watercolours and drawings of local people. Tom Starr is shown as a pot-bellied man, wearing a cravat, and holding a foaming tankard.
The Lansdowne Arms was more than a simple pub because it was run in conjunction with the livery stables in Lansdowne Mews. Thus Nottinghamshire-born Tom Starr was both a licensed victualler and a proprietor of the livery stables. The 1861 census recorded him at the pub aged 59 living with his wife Elizabeth 57, and sons Henry 19, Frederick 13, and daughters Louisa 21 and Sarah Jane 17.
Thomas Orbell was the next landlord and he was at the pub from 1875 to 1880, followed by John Bentley for a short while. In April 1883 John Bentley was summoned at Hove Petty Sessions for keeping his licensed house open for the sale of intoxicating liquors during prohibited hours on Sunday 25 March 1883. On that day Police Constable Cooke was on duty in Farm Road when he heard laughing and talking coming from the Lansdowne Arms. He looked through the window and observed two pint pots, some glasses containing beer on the counter and six men. Mrs Bentley was serving behind the bar. The policeman entered the premises and started to take down names before Mr Bentley pulled him away and stopped him, saying the men were lodgers. In court Bentley asserted he had 33 men of the 10th Middlesex Rifles staying at the house and thirteen of them were looking after horses in the adjoining stables. Bentley said he only supplied liquor to those quartered in his house. But there was one ‘stray’ in the bar and he was Andrew Brookfield of the 4th Dragoon Guards who was quartered at Preston Barracks. In court Brookfield admitted to having been present but said he had nothing to drink and he produced two ‘good conduct’ stripes to show the court. The case was dismissed.
William Patrick took over the pub in 1885 and built up the livery side of the business. In July 1888 he applied for the transfer of three licences for first class landaus to himself (numbers 52, 107 and 108); this was followed in August 1889 by a request that another licence for a first class landau (number 19) should be transferred to him from Charles Cooper. Perhaps it became impossible for one man to run both the livery stables and the pub. At any rate in the 1890s the two were split and William Patrick continued to run what became known as the Lansdowne Mews and Livery Stables.
Meanwhile, Thomas Whitstone took over the running of the pub. He lived on the premises with his wife Caroline and their daughters Lily and Mabel. But the family did not remain for long and by 1898 A.W. Sawford was in charge. Then came Frederick Puttick in around 1905 while Mrs Duffield was landlady in 1910.
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copyright © J.Middleton
Another view of the pub taken from the pavementon the opposite side – Farm Road is a very narrow street. Note the numerous hooksand brackets to support hanging basketsand troughs for summer flowers |
A period of continuity began with the arrival of Henry Long in around 1911. He was there until the 1920s and when he died his wife ran the pub for a few years.
Abraham Jones was landlord from 1930 to 1935, followed by Henry Lionel Alford who was there for a couple of years.
James William Wright looked after the pub during the war years and he was there from 1940 to 1947. Colin Janes arrived in 1949 and stayed at least until 1958.
In 1981 Dave Day, landlord of the Lansdowne Arms, said he had reservations about the proposed £200,000 sporting club called Bretts in in the old Brunswick Town Hall in Brunswick Street West, if a drinking licence were to be involved. He said there were already nineteen licensed premises within a quarter of a mile of the proposed club while there were five pubs within five minutes walk of it.
In January 1984 a woman, lately trading with another at the Lansdowne Arms, was declared bankrupt.
By 1998 the pub had been renamed Cooper’s Cask.
Argus
Census Returns
Directories
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Copyright © J.Middleton 2014
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The Exchange, 8 Goldstone Street Judy Middleton (2002 revised 2020)
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| copyright © J.Middleton This view of The Exchange was taken on 10 April 2014. The exterior of the pub’s décor calls to mind the exteriors of The Station and The Palmeira because all three use black paint at ground level. |
On 6th May 1873 the land on which the pub was later to stand was sold by Ellen Benett Stanford and trustees to George Gallard, one of the developers of the Cliftonville area. Ellen Benett Stanford was the heiress of the Stanford Estate, which was a great swathe of land stretching from Preston Manor to the sea at Hove. It was on Stanford land that First, Second, Third, Fourth and Grand Avenues were laid out besides the Sussex County Cricket Ground and Hove Town Hall.
Presumably George Gallard was responsible for building the pub because it was already in existence when he sold it on 14 December 1876. At that time it was called the Dolphin Arms and it was sold for £250 to Charles Burrell of Hove who re-named the establishment. Although Burrell was described as a public house keeper, it seems he put a manager in to run the place for him. On 14 April 1877 Gallard sold Burrell a piece of land on the south side of Livingstone Road and Burrell built a residence for himself plus a ginger beer factory run by a Mr Wade. Burrell’s business ventures must have been profitable enough for him to consider he had moved up in the world because he later described himself as a gentleman.
In 1882 when Burrell wrote his will, the lease of The Exchange was about to be acquired by Smithers Brewery. Charles Burrell died on 8th August 1885 and his widow Mary Ann and Arthur Parmeter Dollman of North Street Brewery, Brighton, were executors of his will. Burrell left his wife an annuity of £300 a year and there were annuities of £100 for other family members including Harriet Burrell, widow of his late nephew (she died on 17 March 1930) his niece Matilda Burrell and his brother Thomas Burrell who died on 30 January 1894 at 25 Carlton Terrace, Portslade, which was at that time an upmarket address. His sister Sarah Bradshaw received an annuity of £75 and after she died it was to go to her husband Robert (she died 5th January 1889 and he died 13 November 1905). The residue was to go to his nephew Thomas Hamilton Burrell who died on 27 January 1921 leaving his sister Matilda Blaker as heiress. On 4thFebruary 1926 Mr A.P. Dollman and Mrs Blaker signed a 21-year lease with Smithers to run from 29 September 1925.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove |
John Frederick Waghorn was a long serving landlord of The Exchange. There cannot be many landlords who receive a personal accolade from the Chief Constable upon relinquishing their licence. But it happened to Waghorn. The Chief Constable expressed his regret at his leaving in 1906 because Mr Waghorn ‘had conducted the house for over 23 years without a single complaint being made against him.’
Despite its modest appearance The Exchange had the distinction in 1897 of being one of the ‘big four’ of licensed premises at Hove. This meant that along with the Eclipse, Cliftonville Hotel and the Sussex Hotel it had the highest rateable value of £320. The lowliest pub was the Station Inn (now the Bow Street Runner) in the Brunswick area whose rateable value was put at just £32.
In 1893 Smithers Brewery instructed their architect Samuel Denman to draw up plans for some alterations, including the insertion of a north window. Two years later Denman was designing alterations for another Smithers pub not too far away, namely the Aldrington Hotel in Portland Road.
In 1906 the licence of The Exchange was transferred from John Frederick Waghorn to G.W. Preece, formerly of the Park View Hotel, Brighton.
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| copyright © J.Middleton A close-up of the colourful panel on the east side of the pub. |
Smithers made further alterations in 1926 but this time their architect was the firm of Clayton & Black. Hove Council stipulated they must not build on the open space belonging to the dairy. In 1929 Tamplin’s took over The Exchange and they remained the pub’s owners until 1963.
During the Second World War in the spring of 1943, an airman home on leave was killed as he left The Exchange by blast from a bomb during a daytime raid. The bomb scored a direct hit on 6 Goldstone Street. There had been no alert to warn people of danger. Indeed there were a number of these hit-and-run raids. On one occasion a schoolboy on lookout duty with the headmaster at St Nicolas School, Portslade, spotted an enemy aircraft and gave the alarm before there was an official reaction.
The Exchange was refurbished in 2000 and re-opened in July of that year. Fortunately, the name was not changed as well. A local pub chain called C-Side was the new owner and oversaw the updating of the pub. C-Side also owned the Fortune of War, Polar Bar and the Zap Club, all in Brighton.
Argus
Census Returns
Directories
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
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