THERE HAS NEVER been a shortage of public houses in Bourne and in 1857 there were eleven taverns or hostelries in the town which had risen to 14 by the end of the century. Today there are thirteen although my researches have traced a total of 30 that were in business in the parish at some time in the past two centuries with an equal number of beer houses. Drink, it seems, was a necessary accompaniment to everyday life.

Among those still in business are the Angel Hotel (formerly the Nag’s Head) and the Burghley Arms (formerly the Bull) which are probably the oldest of our hostelries to have survived, the first a coaching inn dating from the 18th century and the second a former private house best known as the birthplace of William Cecil (1520-98), later Lord Burghley, who became famous as first minister and trusted adviser to Queen Elizabeth I.

Another important pub from the past is the Marquis of Granby in Abbey Road, formerly Star Lane, rebuilt in Victorian times with an imposing red brick corner frontage similar in design to many other buildings of the period in the town. The inn is named after a distinguished soldier, John Manners, Marquis of Granby (1721-1770), who during the Seven Years' War, as Colonel of the Blues, headed a cavalry charge against the French at the Battle of Warburg but his wig blew off during the whirlwind gallop and his bald pate, glistening in the sun, became a guiding light for his men, an episode which has given the language the saying: "Going for it bald-headed". After his military campaigns, he set up his senior non-commissioned officers who had been disabled in action as innkeepers which largely accounts for the large number of inns throughout the country that bear his name.

Others that have survived include the Golden Lion in West Street, the Royal Oak in North Street, the Anchor in Eastgate and the Red Lion in South Street, while across the road is the stone built Mason's Arms. There is also the Nag's Head in the town centre and the exterior of this building is largely unchanged since it was erected during the early 19th century in the yellow brick and blue slate much favoured by Victorian builders. This hostelry appears to have assumed the name the Nag's Head Hotel that had been discarded by the Angel around 1800 although this has been shortened in recent years to just the Nag's Head, a name that reflects the Englishman's affection for the horse in this agricultural community although it has been interpreted in some districts as referring to a shrewish wife.

The Wishing Well at Dyke is also within the parish but was formerly the Crown Inn which opened in 1879. The present name dates from 1973 after the premises had been greatly enlarged and the public house and restaurant is now one of the most popular in the locality.

You will, however, look in vain for many other pubs that have now disappeared such as the Butcher’s Arms, the Old Wharf Inn and the Woolpack Inn in Eastgate, the White Horse, the Horse and Groom and the Crown in West Street, the Railway Tavern in the Austerby, the King’s Head in Bedehouse Bank, the Six Bells, the Wagon and Horses and the Old Windmill in North Street which in 1835 was being run by a woman, Mary Banks, who prided herself on selling "foreign spirits" which no doubt referred to the strong rum of the period.

The New Inn survives in Spalding Road as a private house and the distinctive red brick building of the Light Dragoon, also in Abbey Road, which closed in 1969 is used today as a bookmaker’s shop although close inspection will reveal the monogram of the last brewery which provided their beer, Mitchell & Butlers, in the coloured glass lights over the side door. There were also several public houses just outside the town such as the Three Horseshoes and the Greyhound in North Fen and the Boat Inn and the New Inn in South Fen.

Beer houses existed in many places and there were at least thirty operating in Bourne between 1842 and 1913, two of them in Eastgate also being run by women, Sarah Knott (1856) and Fanny Thistleton (1872). The sale of beer is now controlled by the licensing justices but in early 19th century England, licenses could be obtained without application to the magistrates. The passing of the Wine and Beerhouse Act in 1869 regulated the sale of beer and owners were taxed on the amount sold. There has been continuous taxation on beer since and as the running of a beer house became a less attractive business proposition, so their numbers declined and by the turn of the century they had almost disappeared completely.

With so many places to buy alcohol, drinking was rife and drunkenness commonplace although by the end of the 19th century an active temperance movement and strict policing had brought about a drastic reduction in the figures.

One of the most recent of our public houses was opened in May 2002 in a converted shop on the west side of North Street. A grocery business founded by John Smith in 1857 operated from this three-storey listed building until it closed in December 1998 but the new owners have incorporated several of the original features in the refurbished premises, including the Victorian window and the old enamelled trade plates on the front, and they have also retained the original business name, Smiths of Bourne, by which the new public house is now known. Other newcomers to the scene are The Jubilee, opened at No 30 North Street in 2006 in a building with a chequered history as an ironmonger’s shop, garage and blacksmith’s forge but retaining features from all three, and Firkin Ales, also established in former retail premises in North Street, and both already popular haunts.

Public houses in Bourne are therefore alive and well although the heavy drinking ethos of past times has largely disappeared and customers now expect wine, food and entertainment which must be provided if they are to survive.