Help in finding name of old beer house in Toddington..

[Ezekial]

I've been trying to identify the name of a beer house which used to be located at Dropshort in the village of Toddington, and up until now i've drawn a blank, until this morning that is, when i discovered an old newspaper article from December 1856, the article clearly states that there was a beer house at Dropshort, but unfortunately it didn't name it!!!!....Could it be that it was just known as a beer house?...Or would it have had a name?....The owner was a chap by the surname Medcraft, his first name wasn't mentioned in the article, but his wife's was, her name was Eliza Medcraft......I don't know where to look now for any further info, so if anyone can help, i'd really appreciate it.....

Ez

[stanmapstone]

.Could it be that it was just known as a beer house?...Or would it have had a name?....
Ez

It may not have had a name.The Beer House Act 1830 allowed a householder, assessed to the poor rate, to retail beer and cider from his own house on payment of an annual fee to the Excise of 2 guineas. The purpose of this legislation was to popularise beer at the expense of spirits, which with wines, as well as beer, were sold by Publicans. This Act opened the floodgates to a spectacular proliferation of decidedly downmarket drinking-dens, most of them in the front rooms of terraced houses. The Act was repealed in 1869.

Stan

[Ezekial]

Thanks Stan, that would explain a lot.....i've found the names of most if not all of the other old inns that used to be in Toddington, but this particular one always tested my patience!!!!

Ez

[johnP-bedford]

There was one called The Leathern Bottle at Dropshort, STAGSDEN ?

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0z2s/

[robbo43]

The problem on beer house names is one of snobbery. They usually had a name but trade directories and even magistrates courts records usually describe them as beer houses distinguished by the licensee's name whereas inns and public houses were named in records. Occasionally a census enumerator includes the beer house name as the address and they occasionally crop up in other records as well - even although trade directories and licensing magistrates resolutely keep to "beer house"

The Leather Bottle is referred to as an ale house which suggests it was an old licence/public house not a beer house. It is mentioned in 1847 in the will of James Walker, the recently deceased licensee. Known licensees are  1779: Robert Negus; 1822-1828: George Allen; 1829: James Walker; 1833-1835 John Walker; 1847: James Walker

[Ezekial]

Many thanks for your reply.....would the Leather Bottle have been in Dropshort, Toddington?...because a reply from johnP-bedford mentions a 'Leathern Bottle' at Dropshort in Stagsden!!!...

[johnP-bedford]

The names & dates as supplied by Robbo relate to the Leather Bottle at Stagsden

[johnP-bedford]

Good info though it is, I think you can ignore the Stagsden Dropshort pub.......

.... in the book "Toddington - Its Annals & People" published 1925 is an appendix detailing pubs & inns; a sentence says 'At Dropshort was an Inn, now gone....'

Looking at the Beds Archives online catalogue for freetext = Dropshort + Toddington I came upon ref QSR1864/3/5/3c,4b entry dated May 1864 regarding sheep stealing which contained the sentence; They followed the track on to Toddington and a beerhouse at Dropshort.  William Marlow, father of Thomas, lived there. ** but not necessarily in the beerhouse?

So...  to the 1861 census.... Toddington District 2 includes the south-east side of Dunstable Street....thus taking both sides to Dropshort;  where 2 of the last 3 entries on Dunstable Street are William Marlow farmer & Thomas Marlow, dealer in pigs.

[johnP-bedford]

Another Beds Archives entry ref QSR1841/3/5/24-27 dated May 1841 and mentions '....said he went to Pratt's beer shop at Dropshorts and ...'

Sure enough in 1841 census in Toddington district 2 found a John Pratt age 40 & family, publican in Dropshort but it don't name the pub.