The Goat Public House Luton
The Goat about 1960 [WB/Flow4/5/Lu/Goat1]
The Goat Public House: 182 Park Street, Luton
The Goat public house is first recorded in directories in 1853, when the licensee was James Thomas. It is impossible to say when the establishment first opened but much of this area of Luton was built in the 1850s and so that is probably the earliest likely date.
In the countywide licensing register of 1876 the owner was shown as Luton brewer Thomas Sworder, who was based at the Crown and Anchor Brewery on the corner of New Bedford Road and Bridge Street. His business, often, seemingly, on the point of bankruptcy, lasted from 1849 until 1897 when he sold his business to Luton competitor John William Green, whose Phoenix Brewery was in Park Street West. The Goat was one of the premises conveyed by Sworder to Green.
When he took over Sworder's business Green floated his firm as a public limited company under the name J. W. Green Limited. In 1954 J. W. Green merged with Flowers Breweries and adopted the latter, better known, name, before being taken over by national concern Whitbread in 1962. The Goat closed its doors for the last time on 25th November 1973 and was subsequently demolished. Today [2009] the site is covered by a three-storey block of flats which lie on the north-west corner of Park Street and Wood Street.
The site of the Goat July 2008
Sources:
- Z210/81: in draft agreement between Thomas Sworder of Luton and Thomas Sworder of Hertford: 1873;
- WB/Green5/5/1: register of successive tenants of J.W.Green Limited licensed houses: 1887-1926;
- X95/313 and 314: sale catalogue of Thomas Sworder & Company brewery and public houses: 1897;
- WB/Green6/4/1: J.W.Green Limited trade analysis ledger for individual licensed premises: 1936-1947;
- WB/Green4/2/4: certificate of title to properties belonging to J.W.Green Limited: 1936-1952
- WB/Green4/2/5: list of licensed houses of J.W.Green Limited: c.1952;
- WB/Green4/2/16: letter as to titles - J.W.Green Limited to their solicitors Lawrance, Messer & Company: 1952;
- WB/Green4/2/17: Second Schedule of Trust Deed from J.W.Green Limited to London Assurance to secure 1,205,000 5% First Mortgage Debenture Stock: 1952-1972;
- WBGreen4/2/19: Various loose schedules of deeds and documents: c.1954;
- WB/Flow4/5/Lu/Goat1-2: photographs: 1960s;
- WB/W4/5/Neg1: negatives of Whitbread premises including the Goat: late 20th century
List of 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:
1853: James Thomas;
1861: James Parrott;
1871: Jonathan Pearson;
1874: Charles Parrott;
1891: Cole;
1891: Rhodes;
1893: John Henry Lawrence;
1895: George Rose;
1898: Gibbs;
1903: Annie Darton;
1936: John William Darton;
1937: William Hyde;
1952: Edwin George Conningsby;
1952: Percy Whittemore;
1956: Eric Leonard Marshall;
1971: Nora May Marshall;
Public house closed 25th November 1973