A chap doing some research in the archives at the brewery popped in the other evening with a photocopy of a map of 1840 detailing the site of this pub. This property, and the one next to it, belonged to the local church and were rented out to the brewery.
A few years afterwards, in an incredibly imaginative move, the railway cut a swathe through the adjacent properties, knocked several down built a magnificent railway station and expanded the railway network.
The brewery, not slow on realising the potential, knocked down half the old pub and stuck on an enormous Victorian hotel which is here now.
I love getting old documents like this. I have always cherished the role we have, as innkeepers, in being custodians of the past. The best place to find out about the past history of a pub, village or town is to visit a pub where old boys can relive those historic moments and where the photos provide a link with the past.
I've a photograph of a football team who played here twenty years ago. The boys still come here. Fatter. Balder. Slower. But they know their roots and are tied here by the memories.
I have always felt is our honour and duty to be custodians of these historical treasures. We will look after our pub whatever period we do and, hopefully, pass over the custody of our heritage to the next people. It is always with sadness that I see such histories destroyed, traditions overturned and memories shattered.
I hope here at the Railway that my successor will build on the work I am trying to build.