The Hop Pole Inn in Limpley Stoke is a building with a past that represents a microcosm of a broader history. At one extreme it has witnessed the aftermath of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and at the other has provided the lodgings for Anthony Hopkins in the 1993 film ‘The Remains of the Day’. Here are some historical highlights as the pub’s supporters rally and make the final charge to save this much-loved community pub.
The name ‘Hop Pole Inn’ has its origins in medieval times when landlords placed a hop pole or ale stake (used to stir the beer) out over their door into the street to attract patrons.
The Hop Pole Inn in Limpley Stoke is a Grade II listed building dating back to 1580, shortly after the first licensing laws were introduced. Any details of its history leading up to the first Census in 1841 are hard to trace. From this point the names of those who lived there are recorded and local newspapers document some of their stories. The first Census saw 45-year old John Sheppard as the publican, living there with his wife Mary Ann and their three children Edwin (15), Alfred (13) and Sarah (9). Ten years later there was a new publican, Richard Bryan, who was 38 and born in Tadwick, near Bath. He had a wife, Anna, a daughter Elizabeth (12) and a son Richard (11). This propels the building into real history, and starts to animate the human stories of those who lived there.
Early alehouses, taverns and inns provided food and beer, wine, and cider to their guests, with inns offering accommodation. They also provided a connected social centre, which was invariably the focus of all aspects of community life in villages such as Limpley Stoke. In a world without technology and with limited travel options, these were places to relax, socialise, eat and drink, but also to meet, discuss local politics, exchange news, campaign, even hold legal sessions.
Stories of local colour
Newspapers such as the Trowbridge and North Wilts Advertiser and The Bath Chronicle give extra colour to the lives of those who called The Hop Pole their home. In this way we discover that in 1865 William Stride was granted the licence at the pub, and in February of that year two individuals, Henry Hill and William Ford, were brought before the sessions by PC Matthews for being drunk and disorderly and not leaving when requested. They were discharged with a caution.
Like other pubs The Hop Pole was also used to hold inquests into local deaths. One such case was in February 1862 when Merina Cottle, a cook in service in the village, delivered a baby secretly in her bedroom and was suspected of the child’s murder by her employer. The inquest found that she was only guilty of the concealment of the birth. An inquest in 1906 looked into the death of an engineer at Limpley Stoke Rubber Works who fell onto the GWR line as a goods train rattled through the station. The jury said it was a death trap and recommended a bridge or subway to come up level with the road.
The Hop Pole was also used as a forum for public auctions for lots, such as The Old Tolls House in Limpley Stoke Gate in 1875 and the sale of oak and ash timber trees in 1856.
The first Census in 1841 saw 45-year old John Sheppard as the publican, living there with his wife Mary Ann and their three children”
An expanding brief
In the late Victorian period from 1865–1909 life in the village would have changed significantly with the coming of the GWR railway. The 1871 Census shows the first entry for the new GWR railway with a stationmaster living in Lower Limpley Stoke, Joseph Liddiard and his sister Anne. By 1876 Charles Stride had taken over at the Hop Pole – Charles can also be found in The Trowbridge Chronicle when he was summoned to appear for assault on his wife Sarah Stride in 1874.
Other notable residents included William Henry Weston (1881), recorded as innkeeper, who had served as a colour sergeant in the Royal Marines, held medals for long service and had served in the Baltic Campaign in 1854. James Male took over the pub in 1883 – he was a Crimean War (1853–1856) veteran and probably one of the longest serving landlords with a 26 years’ tenancy.
During Male’s tenancy The Hop Pole hosted clubs and activities, from The Heart and Hand Benefit Club, where members covered the costs of sickness and death of local members by a small subscription in a time where there was no welfare state. In 1894 The Constitutional Association had a Smoking Concert at the Hop Pole with the vicar, Dr Fleming playing the piano for the songs, as well as at the annual Aquatic Sports meeting held at Limpley Stoke on the bank of the River Avon.
In 1888 the Bristol Mercury covered the Aquatic Sports at Limpley Stoke: “People came from all over to see the competitions. There was music from the Bradford band and Mr Male of the Hop Pole provided refreshments.”
Less salubrious activities are also recorded. In 1877 John Bowles was charged with suspicion of having broken into The Hop Pole, stealing a wooden box containing money. Next day the landlord’s son had seen that the smoking room window had been forced and there were greasy finger marks and footmarks on the window ledge. The box was a charity box for the RUH and was supposed to contain 20 shillings. The man charged was an engine driver at the Avon Rubber works nearby: he had a knife in his possession and nails on his boots corresponding to marks on the window sill and garden. The Salisbury Times documents that he was committed for trial at the assizes at Winchester.
Another example of poor behaviour was William Gerrish and Robert Humphries who were summoned to a session at The Hop Pole in 1877 for being disorderly. Alfred Stride the publican said he knew the defendants, who wanted a quart of beer but he refused to serve them. Gerrish used bad language and wouldn’t leave but claimed Stride threatened to “shake his liver out”. The Bench fined each defendant 10s and costs of 8s 9d.
The merger of small breweries
In 1889 The Hop Pole was transferred to the ownership of Bath Brewery Co., part of a merger of six small breweries in Bath and close to the city. In 1894 there was an investigation into the finances and failures of the company with the conclusion that far too much had been paid for the six breweries it owned as they did not make the profit suggested. Many breweries benefitted from personal trade from locals, when the brewery was local, but this trade was lost. Bathwick Brewery lacked space, had inefficient plant and no proper water supply which made it impossible to provide pubs like the Hop Pole with sufficient beer in uniform quality. There was then a ‘scheme for reconstruction’ including the erection of a new brewery with a good supply of water.
The Great War and The Depression
The period leading up to the Great War (1914–18) saw the publican Ernest Marchant in 1912 file for bankruptcy, after which the pub was advertised to let. The Great War often saw public houses’ opening hours restricted by magistrates and in October 1914 all pubs were required to close at 10pm. The duty on beer was increased to raise prices; the aim was to encourage work commitment and avoid drunkenness in the war. After the war, normality returned and there was a period of focus on improvements within pubs.
In the 1920s the pub was a hub for ramblers as shown in 1926 when the Bath and Cooperative Society organised rambles beginning at the Combe Down tram terminus and finishing at the Hop Pole.
The Depression from 1933 put pressure on public houses with unemployment and falling wages. Many pubs did not survive. Beer consumption was halved during the period and pubs also faced competition from cinema, radio, sports, rambling and sport societies.
The Hop Pole went through many publicans in these years – it’s likely there was so much movement of landlords at this time as people were trying to make a decent living. Publicans were also likely to be older as conscription meant that younger men would have been in the war. The publican from 1935–37 was Frederick Childers whose short proprietorship saw him install a telephone line to the pub with the number ‘148’.
The Depression was also a time of pub improvements by breweries to fend off competitors and to keep customers. The Wiltshire Times tells how housing plans for alterations at The Hop Pole were not seen as satisfactory by Wiltshire Council in October 1934, but the plans must have gone ahead as the pub began to advertise as a small hotel in 1940.
the 1940s and ’50s
During the years of World War Two (1939–1945) The Hop Pole faced a rise in beer duty but drinking increased as people wanted camaraderie and to meet in the pub for local news of the war. This was especially true during the Bath Blitz. Equally with so many items rationed, people could at least spend their money on beer in the pub.
John Green who lived at the Hop Pole as a teenager from 1953–1955 remembers how when his father obtained the licence he had to have his name above the entrance door, was required to open every day of the year and children under 12 were not allowed in the bar – with the village bobby often coming in to check. Apart from drinks, income came from cigarettes, bar snacks such as crisps (plain only with salt in a twist of blue paper) nuts, pickled eggs, ham and egg pie, sandwiches and what the pub was then known for, hot dogs – and B&B for one or two people.
Green also remembers how the cellar had no refrigeration and keeping barrels of beer cool was a challenge in the summer – beer was only ‘real ale’ and was only drinkable up to about a week. Bottled beers were popular, along with scrumpy from a small barrel kept behind the bar. The family only stayed there for two years, but his father ended up working for 25 years for Simonds the brewery (later becoming Courage, Barclay & Simonds and then Courage), ending up as free trade manager for the West Country.
A starring role for The Hop Pole
The Hop Pole also stepped into the limelight in 1993 when it was used as a location for the (eight-time) Academy Award-nominated film The Remains of the Day with Anthony Hopkins as Mr Stevens and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton, based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro. The pub where Mr Stevens stays is The Hop Pole Inn and the shop featured was also in Limpley Stoke.
Keeping the star shining
In 2018 the Hop Pole was forced to close, but in 2022 with the generous support of almost 600 investors, The Hop Pole Inn was saved and acquired by the community. After decades of neglect, considerable refurbishment work has been required to future-proof this listed building. To date, £900,000 has been raised from a successful community share issue and from a variety of grants. In addition, £200,000 of donations and volunteer time has been pledged. Many of those volunteers and donations have come from within the solid local community.
A second community share issue was set up in October 2023 to raise the remaining £300,000 needed. If the money is not raised by early this year the community will be forced to abandon the project and The Hop Pole Inn will be lost to the community forever.
For more information and to buy shares, visit limpleystokecbs.org/get-inn-volved