Leamington
Spa has always had a good selection of pubs with a variety of
breweries involved in the trade in the town. Old established
names such as Phipps, Ansells, Phillips and Marriotts, Mitchells
and Butlers, Ind Coope, Hunt Edmunds, Flowers, Watneys, Atkinsons
and the two local firms of Thornley and Kelsey at Radford Semele
and Lucas in Lillington Avenue have all had a presence in the
town at some time. Mergers and takeovers led to some changes
in the 1950s and 1960s as the conglomerates of Allied Breweries,
Bass Charrington, Watneys and Whitbread Flowers came into being.
However, in the 1960s there remained a nominal choice of Ansells,
Bass, Worthington, M & B, TK, Marstons, Watneys, Whitbread
and Flowers spread throughout the town. With the takeover of
TK by Davenports, a new name was added to the variety of beer
available. The later infiltration of Wolverhampton and Dudley
Breweries was to add the Banks's name to some of the local pubs.
The old pattern of pubs tied to breweries was changing in the
1980s as new chains developed and the separation of pubs and
breweries began. The photographs shown here were mainly taken
in 1987 by Bill Bigley, at a time that the changes in the Leamington
pub scene were starting to take effect and, sadly, some of the
old pub names were being altered. Leamington could boast a range
of interesting and evocative pub names to accompany the variety
of beers on sale. Names such as the Chair and Rocket, the Jet
and Whittle (since disastrously renamed before returning as
the Jet) and the Fox and Vivian are part of the uniqueness of
Leamington. The pubs of Leamington played an important part
in the social history and development of the town. Can you claim
to have had a drink in each one? This photograph collection
numbers over 50. That would be some pub crawl. |
