The Woolpack Public House, Bedford

The Woolpack, c.1990s [ref: CRT130BED/317/3]

The Woolpack Public House: 1-3 Commercial Road

The Woolpack was a public house located at 1 Commercial Road/River Street. It was a pub run by the breweries: St. Paul’s Brewery, Thomas Jarvis & Company and Charles Wells. It is first mentioned in the archives in building plans of 1865 [ref: BorBP30/1-3] which suggest it was built by the architect John Day for Bingham Newland. Bingham appears to then purchase the “land and messuage known as the Woolpack in Commercial Road, Bedford” the following year from John Elger [ref: WL604]. In 1868 Bingham Newland mortgages The Woolpack, along with two other properties to Thomas Street [ref: WL605]

In 1873 St. Paul’s Brewery puts The Woolpack up for sale, along with 27 other public houses and some private residences [ref: GA487]. It appears to have been sold to Thomas Jarvis and Company Brewery.

In 1874 a copy report of the Bedford Brewery by Messrs. Spelman stated that The Woolpack was comprised of a “bar, tap room, parlour, club room, kitchen, 5 sleeping rooms, cellar, 3 stalled stable, & loft over, yard, coal house, & cart shed.” [ref: WL647]

In the assessment book of licensed houses which was done by J R Eve & Son between 1910 and 1911 [ref: Z720/214/2] states the following about the building:

• Occupier: William Parker
• Owner: Jarvis
• Public house
• Years: 6 years
• Sign Woolpack
• Situation: 1 Commercial Road
• New Rent: £30 tied.
• Old Trade: Paid for good will. ‘Objecting’
• New Trade: Takings £17 a week or more
• Old Valuation: £65
• New Valuation £60
• New Rateable value £48
• - 1 cellar
• - 1 bar, 5 beer pulls, 2 smoke rooms, 1 kitchen, 1 scullery, 1 pantry;
• - first floor 5 bedrooms
• - outside 1 stable for 23, 1 cart hovel
• Advantages, Disadvantages & c: sell bread and cheese, cigars
• Further notes: saw Mr. Rushden", Mr. Parker was out.

By 1935 the pub was owned by Charles Wells as Usher and Anthony created some ground floor plans for the brewery showing room designations [ref: CDE143]. In 1988 a planning application was submitted to turn the pub into a 36-bedroom hotel [ref: BorBTP/88/2187].

As of January 2001, the pub closed and was boarded up. It reopened and stayed open as a pub until 2014. The property is now known as The Woolpack Hub and is a not-for-profit community coffee shop, meeting room and games area run by The Salvation Army.

The Woolpack as seen from River Street Car Park, c.1990s [ref: CRT130BED/317/3]

Licensees: note that this is not a complete list; entries in italics refer to licensees where either beginning or end, or both, dates are not known:

• 1868-1869: Charles Kingston
• 1876-1898: Henry Manton
• 1903: William Bottoms
• 1906-1931: William Parker
• 1936-1947: Herbert Harris
• 1949-1957: Thomas Windsor

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives:

• BorBP30/1-3: Public House [Woolpack?] for B. Newland. Architect John Day, 1865
• WL604: Conveyance, 1866
• WL605: Mortgage, 1868
• GA487: Sale catalogue includes The Woolpack, 1873
• WL647: Report (copy) on the Bedford Brewery by Messrs. Spelman, inc. Woolpack, 1874
• BorBP1964: Plan of shed at Woolpack Inn. Messrs Jarvis & Co, 1889
• Z720/214/2: Assessment of Licensed Houses in Bedford Town 'Book 1', 1910-1911
• CDE143: Plans of The Woolpack by Usher & Anthony for Charles Wells, 1935
• BP65/78/1: View of River Street from Commercial Road looking towards Midland Road (with Woolpack Pub in foreground), c.1950
• BorBTP/88/2187: Planning application for The Woolpack Public House, 1 Commercial Road, Bedford:  erection of a 36-bedroom hotel, 1988
• WL722/96: Issue of the Pint Pot: Feature on tenants with twenty years tenancy including those at The Fleur de Lis, Bedford, The Woolpack etc, 1998