Month: March 2017

The Wyvern Inn Luton

The Wyvern Inn about 1960 [WB/Flow4/5/Lu/Wyv2]
The Wyvern Inn about 1960 [WB/Flow4/5/Lu/Wyv2]

The Wyvern Inn, 4 Eaton Green Road, Luton

The site of the Wyvern Inn was bought by J.W. Green Ltd from B. H. Hartop and others in 1938, but the public house did not open until 1953 when the Dew Drop Inn in Upper George Street was closed and the license transferred to the Wyvern. A list of licensed houses belonging to J. W. Green drawn up c.1952 includes a note against the entry for the Dew Drop that it is “to be replaced by pre-fab in Eaton Green Road, Luton”. The name may have been chosen due to the proximity of the public house to the Vauxhall car manufacturing works, where from 1948 to 1957 a car named the Wyvern was in production. It is possible that this car got its name due to the imaginary beast on Vauxhall’s badge, which is in fact a griffin, being mistaken for a wyvern.

Internal and external views of the Wyvern c.1965-70 [Z1306/75/10/22/1]
Internal and external views of the Wyvern c.1965-70 [Z1306/75/10/22/1]

In 1954 J. W. Green Limited merged with Midlands brewers Flowers Breweries. Although Greens were the major partner the Flowers name was better known and so the new company used the Flowers trademark. In 1962 the firm was taken over by Whitbread. In 2002 it was sold with the rest of Whitbread’s public houses to Enterprise Inns. The Wyvern was closed in 2014 and at the time of writing [2016] the premises are in use as a convenience store.

The Engine Public House Luton

The Engine Hotel about 1950 [WB/Green4/5/Lu/Eng1]
The Engine Hotel about 1950 [WB/Green4/5/Lu/Eng1]

The Engine Public House: 43 Bute Street, Luton.

The Engine was probably first licensed around the 1860s, it was certainly extant in 1869 as it occurs in a directory of that year. The countywide licensing register of 1876 states that it was owned by Luton brewer Thomas Sworder.

Sworder sold his business to rival Luton brewer John William Green in 1897 [WB/Green1/1/1] the new owner immediately floating his newly enlarged company on the Stock Exchange as J. W. Green Limited.

A hat factory lay next door to the public house, that of Vyse, Sons & Company Limited. It was gutted by fire in February 1930 and eight people died as a result. The Engine was evacuated but, remarkably, suffered little damage.

J. W. Green Limited merged with Midlands brewery Flowers in 1954 and although Green was the senior partner the Flowers name was adopted for the new firm. Flowers was taken over by multi-national brewer (founded by a Bedfordshire man in the 18th century) Whitbread.

This firm divested itself of its public houses in 2001. At the time of writing [2011] the premises is vacant and boarded up. In 1917 Arthur Walker Merry carried out inspections of a number of Luton public houses for the licensing magistrates [BML10/45/10]. He wrote of the Engine: “This is a modern, well constructed and capacious house well adapted for the trade with Private Bar, Public Bar, Large Smoke Room and Snug. Refreshments are also supplied”.

The Engine Public House June 2011
The Engine Public House June 2011

Luton Bute Street

Luton Bute Street, looking towards Hatfield 1954.And Bute Street again in 1956,on the left is the train to Hatfield and on the`right is the train to Leighton Buzzard

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David Blaxill The train on the right will have just arrived from Dunstable. The engine on the left, an N2 0-6-2 tank, will have run round it’s carriages, to depart tender first for Hatfield. It’s fitted with condenser (the pipes on the sides), meaning it can also run to Moorgate via York Rd and the Metropolitan line.

The King Edward VII Public House Luton

king eddie…

The King Edward VII, c.1950 [WB/Green4/5/Lu/KE7/2]
The King Edward VII, c.1950 [WB/Green4/5/Lu/KE7/2]

The King Edward VII Public House: 1 Peel Street, Luton [previously The Bute Arms, then The Volunteer Canteen]

The Bute Arms was built by Luton brewer John Gray, who purchased what had formerly been pasture land “by a new road called Peel Street” from the Marquis of Bute in 1844. The public house had been completed by 1848, when it was mentioned in a deed conveying neighbouring property. In 1849 Gray sold his Crown and Anchor brewery to brothers Thomas and Robert Sworder, along with the Bute Arms, two beer shops and a cottage, and in 1857 the Bute Arms was one of a number of properties mortgaged by the two Sworder brothers to their uncle Thomas Sworder of Hertford.

By 1873 the name of the Bute Arms had been changed to the Volunteer Canteen and in 1889 the premises were valued at £800 with the tenant paying rent of £15 per annum. Thomas Sworder nearly went bankrupt on a number of occasions due to his brother Robert’s profligacy, bad luck and his own poor business skills and in 1897 the Thomas Sworder brewery was sold to J.W.Green Ltd. The sale catalogue describes The Volunteer Canteen as a fully-licensed public house, a brick-built and slated building with double bay front, containing:

  • First Floor: six bedrooms, extending over the gateway
  • Ground Floor: bar, bar parlour, tap room, kitchen with cupboards, washhouse with sink and copper, lobby and w.c. Cellar with cask entrance.
  • Outside: Long yard in the rear with carriage gates and side door, weatherboard erection of stabling with loft. Urinal and privy.
  • The tenant was Mr. H. J. Scammell at a rent of £15 per annum.

By the time Kelly’s Directory for 1903 was published the name of the public house had changed for a second time and was now known as King Edward VII, in honour of the new king. In 1954 J.W.Green Ltd. merged with Flowers Breweries Ltd and took on the Flowers name. The merged brewery was then taken over by Whitbread in 1961. The King Edward VII closed in 1970 and was subsequently demolished.

The Crown and Anchor Public House:

The Crown and Anchor about 1960 [WB/Flow4/5/Lu/CA1]

The Crown and Anchor Public House: 2 New Bedford Road, Luton on the corner of Bridge StreetThe Crown and Anchor public house in 1849 [X95/247]
The Crown and Anchor public house in 1849 [X95/247]

The Crown and Anchor public house is first mentioned in 1843 when it was conveyed by the 2nd Marquis of Bute to Luton builder John Gray [X95/246] along with three roods, seven poles of surrounding land on which Gray then built the Crown and Anchor Brewery. It is not clear how old the public house is from the deed but conveyed along with it is a house occupied by Gray and “recently erected”. When Gray sold the public house it was noted as having been built by him. The Crown and Anchor is not mentioned in the comprehensive and countywide register of ale house licenses of 1822 to 1828 [CLP13] and so clearly must have been built between 1828 and 1843, probably closer to the latter date.

In 1849 Gray sold the Crown and Anchor Brewery he had just built, along with the Crown and Anchor public house to brothers Thomas and Robert Sworder [X95/343] along with the Bute Arms in Peel Street, the Boot beer shop in Burr Street , the Volunteer beer shop in Donkey Hall and a cottage for £3,420. Thereafter the Crown and Anchor remained part of Sworder’s business through all its vicissitudes – Sworder nearly went bankrupt on a number of occasions due to his brother Robert’s profligacy, bad luck and his own poor business skills – recounted under the Crown and Anchor Brewery. He eventually sold out to his Luton rival John William Green in 1897. Green, at the same time, converted his firm into a limited company called J. W. Green Limited.

The Crown and Anchor then remained part of J. W. Green until the firm merged with Flowers Breweries in 1954, taking the Flowers name. Flowers was taken over by national brewery chain Whitbread in 1962. The Crown And Anchor closed in 1975 and was subsequently was demolished. At the time of writing [2009] the site of both public house and brewery is occupied by a leisure complex.