The Admiral Public House Clifton

The Admiral in March 2007

The Admiral Public House: 1 Broad Street, Clifton

The early history of the Admiral is not clear from documents held at Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service. The owners, Greene King, have a set of deeds which recite back to the conveyance of a cottage from Mary Kirby to William Morgan in 1830. However, it is not clear if this building is, in fact, the later beerhouse. The first reference to the beerhouse is in a licensing register of 1872. Interestingly the deeds refer to a messuage which was "lately built" by William Daniels, a carpenter, in 1867 on land he had bought from Charles Morgan the previous year and this may be the beerhouse. The property was at first leased by Baldock brewer John Steed, who died in 1877 and was succeeded by his son Oliver, who died in 1888 and his firm was bought out by Charles Morley for Burton-on-Trent brewer William Pickering. In 1898 Pickering established Baldock Brewery Limited and William Daniels sold the Admiral to the new company in the same year. Baldock Brewery went bankrupt after only six years and was bought out by Biggleswade brewers Wells & Winch, which merged with Suffolk brewers Greene King in 1961, taking that name as Greene King (Biggleswade) in 1963; the Biggleswade reference was dropped in 1990. In 2006 Greene King announced that the public house might close but by January 2007 this was no longer the case.

In 1927 the Admiral, by then a fully licensed public house, was valued under the 1925 Rating Valuation Act. At that time it comprised a kitchen ("very small"), cellar, bar parlour ("fair") and tap room ("good") with a living room, two bedrooms and a boxroom on the first floor; outside were a washhouse, garage, a two stall stable and coal barn. The valuer noted that it stood in a triangle with roads all round and no garden. Trade was reasonable - 2½ barrels of beer, ten dozen bottles and one gallon of spirits per week - the valuer noting: "Personal Trade - A popular tenant who is always willing to help in Village matters".

Plans for alterations, 1985 [Ref.PC Clifton18/10]

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:

1872-1877: Charles Carter;
1877-1879: Frederick Chambers;
1879-1886: John Capon;
1886-1889: Daniel Brown;
1889-1893: Joseph Bing;
1893-1894: James Longley;
1894: James Sargent;
1894-1897: Thomas Hall;
1897-1898: William Henry Carter;
1898-1904: Henry Edward Withington;
1904-1905: Charles Newnham;
1905: Ellen Newnham;
1905-1906: Henry William Easter;
1906-1907: William Gaston Fauquet Barbenson;
1907-1913: Reuben Bosworth;
1913: Minnie Bosworth;
1920: Mrs Minnie Gray;
1924: Walter Gray;
1928-1931: MInnie Gray;
1940: William Edward Scrivener;
1957-1966: Robert George Wright;
1966-1980: Thomas William Jarvis;
1980-1984: Leonard Arthur Arnold;
1984-1985: Sheila Julia Arnold;
1985-1987: Leslie John William Ellis;
1987-1991: Richard Stimpson;
1991-1995: Gerald Thomas Tookey

References:

• GK290/1: recited conveyance of cottage from Mary Kirby to William Morgan: 1830;
• GK290/1: recited will of William Morgan devising cottage to Charles Morgan of Luton, fishmonger: proved 1846;
• GK290/1: conveyance of cottage from Charles Morgan to William Daniels the younger of Henlow, carpenter: 1866;
• GK290/2: mortgage of two cottages and messuage lately erected by William Daniel(s) from William Daniels to William Brown: 1867 (redeemed 1878);
• HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
• HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
• HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
• GK290/4: scheduled mortgage from William Daniels to George Jeeves: 1878;
• GK290/4: scheduled transfer of mortgage from George Jeeves to George Hunt: 1881;
• HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
• GK290/3: 21 year lease of Admiral from William Daniels to William Pickering of Ashfield [Staffordshire], brewer: 1889;
• HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
• GK290/4: scheduled transfer of mortgage from Frederick Jeeves and Samuel George Parker to Mary A.Winter Fisher: 1894;
• GK290/4: scheduled further charge from William Daniels to Mary A.Winter Fisher: 1894;
• GK290/4: scheduled reconveyance on redemption of mortgage from Mary A.Winter Fisher to William Daniels: 1898;
• GK290/4: conveyance from William Daniels to Baldock Brewery Limited: 1898;
• GK1/36: three sales catalogues bound together: Wells & Company of Biggleswade 1898; Henlow Brewery 1899; Baldock Brewery Limited 1903; 
• GK165/12: amongst other properties conveyed by William and William Joseph Pickering to Baldock Brewery Limited on creation of the limited company: 1898;
• GK165/13: part of trust deed to issue first mortgage debentures for Baldock Brewery Company: 1898;
• Z50/30/2: photograph: C20;
• HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
• PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
• GK166/5: conveyance of Baldock Brewery Limited property to Wells & Winch Limited: 1904; - DV1/C207: rating valuation: 1927;
• PSBW8/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1956-1972;
• PSBW8/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade and North Bedfordshire Petty Sessional Divisions: 1976-1980;
• PCClifton18/10: application and plans for alterations: 1985.