St Ives, Cambridgeshire

St Ives, Cambridgeshire

During the early 1970s, I became alarmed at the number of pubs closing or being modernized to fit some corporate image and the seemingly unstoppable expansion of plastic pubs. When my wife, Pam, and I moved to St Ives, a lively market town with several pubs, I took the opportunity to take some photographs for posterity. On a positive note, several of these pubs still seem to be thriving.

The Golden Lion, Market Hill, St Ives. Oliver Cromwell, the one-time Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, appears to be looking down from his pedestal, defying anyone to enter the pub. Cromwell lived in St Ives from 1631-1636. The statue was paid for by public subscription and erected in 1901 after an attempt to raise funds for a statue in nearby Huntingdon, where Cromwell also had strong associations, failed.

The White Hart, Sheep Market, St Ives. An old coaching inn dating back to the early 18th century and a Whitbread house at the time the photograph was taken.

The Manchester Arms, Needingworth Road, St Ives.

The Nelson’s Head, Merryland, St Ives. We were regulars at this pub when we lived in St Ives and it was a basic, friendly, back-street pub run by Nancy and Fred. I called in The Nelsons for a pint or two a few years ago and although the interior looked unrecognizable from the 1970s, the restoration (and enlargement) had been very well done.

Advertising has moved on since Fred and Nancy’s time, but if you were a loyal customer back then, you may have been lucky enough to receive a special Nelson’s Head biro at Christmas.

The Robin Hood, Market Hill, St Ives. This pub was built around 1789 and the building was once owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Oliver Cromwell, Wellington Street, St Ives. An excellent pub near to the Quayside.

The Black Bull, London Road, St Ives. This pub ceased trading in 1999 and is now an Indian restaurant. Note the sign advertising Tolly Cobbold Ales, the Suffolk brewery that was acquired by Ridley’s brewery in 2002. In 2005, Ridley’s was bought by Greene King and two old names were lost.

The Dolphin Hotel, London Road, St Ives. This pub had been derelict for some time when I photographed it in the late 1970s. It was subsequently demolished and a new hotel built near the site.

The Greyhound, Carlisle Terrace, St Ives. This pub was refurbished and renamed The Unicorn in 2003.

The Seven Wives, Ramsey Road, St Ives. This pub was built in 1962 and is named after the rhyme/riddle which dates back to around 1730.

The Dun Horse, Ramsey Road, St Ives, with what looks like a plastic Watneys Red Barrel stuck on the wall next to the entrance. This pub was known as The Aviator from 1992 and is still a pub, but now trades as The Merchant House.

Royal Oak, St Ives. This pub claims to be the oldest in the town, dating back to 1502. The name, however, must be more recent as The Royal Oak refers to Charles II’s famous escape from Oliver Cromwell’s Roundheads in 1651 when he hid in an oak tree.

Note the Ansells brewery lettering. Ansells was, together with Ind Coope and Taylor Walker, a member of Allied Breweries. Ansells Mild and Best Bitter are currently produced for Allied’s successor, Carlsberg, by JW Lees.

The remains of the Cherry Tree Inn, Merryland, St Ives. It seems to be suffering from a little fire damage.

Pam outside the Blue Ball Inn, in the village of Toseland, a short drive from St Ives. This pub was a genuine time warp and was described in the 1976 CAMRA publication for Real Ales in Cambridgeshire (cost 25p) as a ‘Quiet and unspoiled rural pub’

Not a pub, but St Ives Railway Station shortly before demolition.

In the late 1970s, we were involved in organizing some Real Ale festivals at Cromwell House in Huntingdon, birthplace of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector. I don’t think Oliver would have approved of our endeavours, in particular the Yard of Ale contest that resulted in a tie and had to be re-run.

In 1978, Pam and I attended the CAMRA Annual General Meeting in Cardiff with our friends Mick and Dianne Shanley. This photograph was taken outside the Queens Head in Stowe-on-the Wold where we stopped for some light refreshment on our drive back to St Ives. Mick Shanley, a connoisseur of ale, is the only person I’ve ever met who routinely put ice cubes into his pint.

I recently heard from Mick and he explained that he started to take ice in his beer while on a University coach trip to a brewery in Tadcaster;  ‘we stopped on the way back at a pub in Blubberhouses and I put my pint on the top of the fireplace and the tankard became a little warm so with my next pint I asked for a bit of ice as well .. I’ve never looked back!  …I knew that it would keep me skinny.’