The Stone Jug Public House Clophill

 
The Stone Jug in March 2007

The Stone Jug Public House: 10 Back Street, Clophill

The first entry for the Stone Jug in the licensing register for Ampthill Petty Sessional District which ran from 1872 is in 1874 strongly suggesting that the beerhouse, as it then was, opened in that year. Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has little information on the pub other than directory entries and licensing records. Correspondence from Clophill Parish Council shows that it was planned to rename the pub the Toby Jug in 1976 when new potential owners were negotiating to buy it; the parish council strongly objected to the name change but in the event the proposed sale fell through and the name remained the same.

In 1927 the Stone Jug beerhouse was valued for rates under the 1925 Rating Valuation Act, interestingly the valuer noted that it had been two cottages but the buildings were not in a good state as he noted "house very damp" and "living room floor gone (dry rot - no ventilation)". The buildings were stone and slate and comprised a living room, bar ("will be very good"), tap room ("fair"), kitchen, store and cellar ("on level") downstairs and three bedrooms above; outside were a stone and slate pail closet and coal store, a urinal having been removed. By the following year the bar and taproom had been merged and a parlour created, a new box room had been added upstairs and outside there was, fortunately, a new urinal. Trade, the valuer noted, was all local and comprised 1½ barrels and four dozen bottles per week, the licensee ("been here 52 years") had "no idea of takings" as he "keeps no books".

Plans for the Stone Jug about 1960 [Z914/5]

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

1874: James Liles Quenby;
1874-1876: Frederick Upton;
1876-1888: Frederick Tuffnell;
1888-1892: Mary Ann Tuffnell;
1892-1903: Elizabeth Martin;
1903-1930: Frank Tuffnell;
1930-1959: Frederick Bruce Tuffnell;
1959: Leonard Frederick Tremaine;
1964-1973: Cecil Arthur Rayer;
1973-1976: Edward Charles Hart;
1976-1977: Ernest Albert Raymond Mole;
1977-1981: Richard John Hartup and Robert James Hartup;
1981-1996: Arthur Richard Stevens and Joyce Lilian Rose Stevens;
1996: Arthur Stevens

The Stone Jug about 1925 [Z1306/31]

References:

• PSA5/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Ampthill Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1927;
• DV1/C46: rating valuation: 1927;
• Bedfordshire Inns and Pubs in Old Picture Postcards plate 41: early 1930s;
• PSA5/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Ampthill Petty Sessional Division: 1934-1959;
• PSA5/4: list of licensed premises in Ampthill Petty Sessional Division: c.1950s;
• Z1052/12/2: photograph by Francis Frith & Company Limited: 1952;
• Z914/6: plans for alterations: 1960;
• PCClophill9/11: transfers of licence: 1976;
• PCClophill9/11: abortive plan to change name to Toby Jug: 1976

The Stone Jug Public House March 2010