Breweries from outside the Midlands region are included as, particularly nowadays, beers from other parts of the country are sold across the counters in the Midlands. The section is growing as more images are obtained - not all relevant to the area but, hey, I love beer and it's great fun.

Statto Corner 130 Pages 145,885 Words 190 Pubs Featured 482 Pub Photographs 78 Breweries Featured 51 Brewery Photographs 96 Other Photographs 115 Inn Signs 109 Beer Labels 114 Pumpclips 22 Maps 15 Building Plans

Pubs of Wollaston Worcestershire

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Licensees of the Barley Mow Inn 1827 - Richard Clark 1841 - George Taylor 1851 - Samuel Stanley 1864 - Richard Matty 1872 - Thomas Timmins 1880 - Francis Martin 1884 - Samuel Deakin 1888 - Samuel Deakin 1892 - John Wilcox 1896 - John Wilcox 1900 - Luke Bradbury 1904 - Thomas Banks 1940 - Frederick R. Bache 1954 - Mrs Violet Bache 1957 - Royston Charles Spencer 1979 - Mr G. Swann 1979 - 1983 William Terence Hoggins 1983 - 1983 Ronald Wilfred Wright 1983 - 1987 Francis Henry Pratt 1987 - 1987 Warwick Clive Thompson 1987 - 1993 Thomas Alan Sidaway 1993 - 1995 David Dann 1995 - 1996 Kenneth John Margetts 1996 - John Fereday 2001 - Jennie Evans

Although rebuilt in 1966 the Barley Mow, like the Gate Hangs Well at High Park, is one of the 'senior' public houses of Wollaston in that it was trading in the 1820's. Indeed, only these two Wollaston pubs appear on the 1827 Oldswinford parish map, the year in which Richard Clark was the publican at the Barley Mow Inn, an alehouse owned by Thomas Siviter, according to a survey undertaken by L.O.Davies. An oddity though is a later map produced for the sale of the Wollaston Hall Estate in 1848 which shows the late Mr.R.Clarke owning land where the Gate Hangs Well is located. Is this the same Richard Clark? It is possible that an even older Barley Mow existed before the construction of the building shown here. After all, the alehouse was at the very heart of the old village of Wollaston, a settlement that can be traced back to the mid-13th century and certainly a community by the 17th century. Buildings were clustered at this road junction a short distance from Wollaston Hall. The pub's name suggests a close link with the agricultural nature of the locality and also that the beer was brewed on the premises.

Featuring the publican and his family outside the front door, the photograph above [dating from around 1920] advertises "Pure Home Brewed Ales" are sold in the Barley Mow Inn. Another sign attached to the front wall advertises a bowling green and good stabling. It is a delightful looking establishment - and very inviting too! The publican at the time of the 1841 census was 35 year-old Kinver-born George Taylor. He kept the alehouse with his wife Elizabeth and lived on the premises with their children Thomas, Elizabeth and George. The couple employed Elizabeth Edwards as a servant. Many of the customers were hard men who grafted all day making spades and shovels in the nearby mill of Samuel Hodgson & Co. They would walk up the road at the end of a heavy day and slake their thirst with a few pints of George Taylor's homebrew. The Taylor family remained in the village but George later found employment as a sawyer. Locally-born former clerk Samuel Stanley spent a few years at the Barley Mow Inn. He kept the pub with his Netherton-born wife Mary. The couple had a large family, many of whom went into the glass trade. This could be the reason that the Stanley's moved to Birmingham as their sons found work as glassblowers and glasscutters close to their home in Curzon Street. Former publican Samuel Stanley was earning a living as a packer and his new local pub was the Railway Hotel.

Richard and Elizabeth Matty had experience of the licensed trade before they moved to the Barley Mow Inn as they had previously kept the Woolpack Inn at the bottom of Stourbridge High Street. Richard Matty was born in Upton-upon-Severn in 1810. Two years younger, Elizabeth hailed from Belbroughton. When living at the Woolpack, their son Henry worked as an apprentice to a book binder and printer. However, by the time the family had moved to Wollaston, he had changed trades and was employed as a clerk in a local iron works. At the Barley Mow Inn, the couple's younger son Richard found employment as a currier. Richard Matty's widowed sister lived at the Barley Mow Inn and helped out in the pub. Another Matty was operating a grocery shop close to the pub at Pountney's Terrace. Although Isabella Matty was born in Westmorland, it is reasonable to speculate that she was from the same clan. Richard and Elizabeth Matty later moved to Kinver where they kept The Dragon wine and spirit vaults in the High Street.

Certainly throughout the mid-19th century, the Barley Mow Inn seems to have been a pub where licensees came and went for some reason. Unlike some of the other public houses in Wollaston, nobody stayed for any great length of time. Timothy and Sarah Timmins kept the place for a while in the early 1870's before more changes and then the arrival of Francis and Mary Martin. Their incumbency was also short but it is interesting to note that they had previously kept the White Swan in Birmingham's Nagivation Street in the early 1860's. Mary had grown up in a pub because her parents kept the Bell Inn at Harborne during the late 1830's. Following the death of her husband, Mary Martin went back to her hometown of Harborne where she lived in Greenfield Road with daughter Kate. This was where her father Benjamin Stevens had moved to after retiring from the Bell Inn.

Kidderminster-born Samuel Deakin was the licensed victualler in charge of the Barley Mow Inn throughout most of the 1880's. The locals must have rejoiced because this was a man who knew how to make beer - he had spent most of his working life as a brewer whilst living in Stourbridge. The Deakin family were running the Mount Street Tavern in 1880 and prior to this David Deakin was in charge of the Thorns Hotel between Lye and Quarry Bank. After almost a decade of producing his popular homebrewed ales for the villagers of Wollaston, Samuel Deakin died in 1890 and the licence of the Barley Mow passed to his wife Hannah. Daughters Emma and Jane helped out with the day-to-day running of the pub and responsibility for the production of beer passed to son Samuel who was also recorded as a butcher. Hannah Deakin died within a year of her husband's passing and John Wilcox succeeded her as licensee of the Barley Mow Inn. He stayed for a few years but by the end of the 19th century Luke Bradbury was running the pub.

Born in the Peak District of Sheen in 1859, Luke Bradbury was the son of a farmer but became a joiner by trade. His wife Margaret hailed from Cheadle. It would appear that the couple tried their luck in Australia as their three eldest daughters Mabel, Ethel and Florence were all born in Queensland. This would have introduced some new customs and culture to the drinkers of the old Barley Mow. The Bradbury's had however returned to the Staffordshire town of Leek by 1892, the birthplace of their son William. Luke Bradbury was documented as a joiner and innkeeper, suggesting that the ladies of the household looked after the pub whilst he earned another income working with wood. The family also employed Wordsley-born Beatrice Latham as a domestic servant.

The Bache family kept the Barley Mow Inn for many years during the 20th century. Indeed, Frederick and Violet Bache are still remembered fondly by some of the veteran drinkers of the village. The pub may have been a little ramshackle towards the end of their tenure but the folks of Wollaston were always warmly welcomed at the Barley Mow Inn. The 1937 plan above shows the layout of the site during the couple's time at the pub. Unwin Passage ran alongside the Barley Mow alongside a row of cottages and emerged next to Nos.1-7 Vicarage Road, the latter having been removed some years ago, though the continuation of terraced housing remains today. At the time of this plan [drawn up for Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries in order to buy the properties adjoining their pub] Walter Blakeway lived at No.5 and Cyril Rowbottom resided at Number 7. The passage was named after the Reverend Edward Unwin who owned extensive land to the north of the pub. On May 7th 1948 the council of the Borough of Stourbridge placed an order for the demolition of Nos.1-3 Vicarage Road plus No.4 Unwin Passage, all rented by Joseph Brookes, carrying on the business as F.C.Cooper and Company of Enville Street. 

On December 11th 1951 a further demolition order was served on Nos.3 and 5 Vicarage Road with no objection from Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries. Almost two years later, on October 6th 1953, on behalf of the occupiers of Nos.9 and 11 Wollaston Road, the solicitors W.Wilson Bannister & Son of High Street, Stourbridge offered the adjoining properties to the brewery for the sum of £1,000. Despite wishing to expand the site, the brewery declined the offer. Frederick Bache was still the publican at this point. Born in Wordsley in 1892, he grew up in Belle Vue; his father worked as a bricklayer. Frederick died on Christmas Eve 1953 aged 61 years. The licence of the Barley Mow Inn passed to Violet Bache. She ended up in the courts in 1955 after a police undercover operation at the Barley Mow Inn. Wearing old plain clothes and a day's growth of beard, a police officer visited the pub on Derby Day in 1955 and saw betting slips being passed to "Harry," a bookmaker's runner. The police officer described the scene to Stourbridge magistrates at a special sitting when Violet Bache and three customers appeared on charges of allowing licensed premises to be used for the purpose of betting and using the premises for betting. Harry Victor Stanworth [42] of 35 Vicarage Road was fined a total of £20.0s.0d. with £3.9s.0d. costs, for using the premises for betting on May 7th and 25th; Norman Coates of Gerald Road and Charles Emery of Apley Road were fined £5.0s.0d each with £2.2s.0d. costs for using the premises for betting on May 25th.

Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries successfully applied for planning permission for the complete demolition and rebuilding of the Barley Mow Inn as early as 1950. However, the matter was not resolved throughout the decade. The brewery wanted to buy Wollaston Mill on the corner of Vicarage as it would complete the corner site and provide potential customers with a striking view of the new building. A deal for the Wollaston Corn Mills was negotiated in August 1961 and a price of £3,750.0s.0d. was agreed. However the deal fell through and looking back nowadays it is such a relief that the historic building was spared. And the failure to acquire the mill is the reason why the site of the Barley Mow is as it is today - the brewery acquired other sections of land and demolished adjoining cottages to facilitate the construction of a larger Barley Mow public house. This proved to be a protracted affair as it involved the exchange of land with the council. Eventually the brewery were able to submit plans for a new building in February 1963.

Planning permission for a new Barley Mow was granted on October 8th 1963. However, for some reason, the brewery delayed the construction of the new building. Matters came to a head when officials from Stourbridge Council inspected the old Barley Mow Inn on March 11th 1966. They found that every room was in need of decoration and, in particular, the licensee's living room was suffering from excessive damp. In other parts of the pub they found plaster disintegrating to the point where large patches of it had fallen from the walls. Some rooms were reported to be in a "shocking state" and the floorboards were on the verge of collapse so that customers were at risk of falling into the cellars. In the smoke room inspectors were horrified to find weeds growing out of the plaster to a height of several inches. Window frames were also found to be hanging on by a thread. On the outside the rendering was falling off and deemed a danger to passing pedestrians. The conclusion was that it was time to rebuild the Barley Mow Inn.

A number of local firms were invited to tender for the contract of rebuilding the Barley Mow. These included George Law Ltd. of Comberton Hill, Kidderminster, John Dallow and Sons at Blackheath. The winner was J. Harper and Sons [Blackheath] Ltd. who agreed to complete the job in six months at a cost of £35,931.5s.0d. This was substantially cheaper than competing firms - A.J.Crump wanted to take an extra eight months and charge almost £44,382.0s.0d. Harper's not only completed the job on time, they came in under budget at £34,60.7s.3d. This firm should have been given the task of rebuilding Wembley! The old Barley Mow Inn remained trading whilst the new pub was being erected. The car park fronting the High Street is on the site of the old building. The brewery were delighted with the new property, though they were under the impression that Wollaston Mill was to be demolished by the council. This is the reason for the shape and siting of the "new" Barley Mow - it was intended to face the oncoming traffic from Amblecote.

The brewery did have one complaint about the interior design. A solid screen had been placed next to the dartboard which prevented those in the bar from seeing the board when a match was in progress. However, this was trifling compared to how miffed the board were when M.D.Parry of Bromford, driving a lorry for Hawley's Bakeries of Moseley Road, Birmingham, drove into the brand new building. As is always the case, the pub was changed again within a few years. The licensee had been doing so well with weddings and private functions in the lounge, the company decided to install a proper kitchen for catering. This work was completed by J.J.Taylor & Son Limited of Birmingham.
© Copyright. All images from Digital Photographic Images and reproduced with kind permission.