58 East Street is where The Fleece, formerly the Golden Fleece was located. It was one of Chichester’s oldest inns. An ale house stood on this site in 1641 and may have existed at a much earlier date. It had become an inn – offering food and accommodation by 1710 under the name Coach or Coach and Horses and later the Bell.

From 1812–1823, the city’s Member of Parliament was William Huskisson whose nomination as a candidate took place at the Fleece on 28 September 1812. In 1827, Huskisson joined the Duke of Wellington’s government, serving in various roles, including President of the Board of Trade. He had the dubious distinction of becoming the world’s first railway fatality when he was killed by George Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830.

It is also said that an earlier Member of Parliament, William Cawley, was born here. Cawley was one of the regicides, who signed the Death Warrant of King Charles I, following his trial for treason in January 1649.

The inn provided extensive stabling under proprietor Charles Morgan around the 1890s and by L. Gould who took over premises occupied by Morgan in Little London Mews.

However, soon motor carrier services were developed with services to Portsmouth and surrounding villages in the 1920s.

Of the licensees, the popular John Kemp Alderson, Sergeant -Major of the Chichester Company of Volunteers, became tenant of the Fleece in 1917. Licensing legislation was not often adhered to and the recently appointed licensee Vernon Carter was fined in 1942 for buying spirits from an unauthorised person who had stolen them from his employer, Messrs A. Purchase wine merchants.

The inn was the meeting place for various societies including the ‘Ancient Order of Foresters, Court Prince of Wales No. 4879’ and the ‘Good Intent Friendly Society’. In 1934 The Fleece had the largest Slate Club of any licensed premises in Chichester with a membership of 220. These clubs were not run for healthy members but for those who might fall sick. At the close of the Club year it paid out £1 3s per member.

The Fleece closed in 1987 to be occupied by retail outlets.

(1) With thanks to Gravelroots.net http://www.gravelroots.net/history/180.html

There is much speculation surrounding the origin of this pub’s name which only came into use in 1951, previously being referred to as St Martin’s Brewery – St Martin of Tours was the patron saint of the Worshipful Company of Vintners.

Immediately adjacent was one of the city’s Poor Houses (workhouses) and it is said that the inmates were passed food through a hole in the wall to the neighbouring property. Another theory is that workers at the St Martin’s Brewery that also abutted the property would pass barrels back and forth between the inn and the brewery through a hole in the cellar wall. Another theory, which is more likely a folk tale, is that there was a debtor’s prison on this site, and family and friends would pass food and drink through this hole to their loved ones.

A plaque on the bar wall states 1742, however, the brewery dates back at least to 1684 and probably earlier.

Long-serving William ‘Billy’ Parson was landlord of St Martin’s Brewery from 1915 to 1927 when he died at the age of 37.

The inn was the location for the keenly fought dart’s competition, the Brickwood Challenge Cup (Brickwoods being the owning brewers). Cups were presented at the ‘annual smoker’ – a smoking concert. Darts became very popular in the 1930s with over 12,000 clubs and 750,000 members registered with the National Darts Association in 1937. The Brewery was also the location for various start-up clubs including the ‘ping-pongers’ and the ‘air riflers’ and was a meeting place for organisations such as the ‘Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB) Royal Sussex Branch’, the ‘Ancient Order of Foresters Court Prince of Wales, No. 4879’ – and the Chichester Post Office employees who recalled the time when innkeepers acted as postmasters. The first dinner of the Chichester Military Band was held there in 1937.

In 1938 a talk at the inn entitled ’The Problems of Economic Planning’ arranged by The Workers’ Educational Association had special reference to Russia – then suffering the ‘Great Purge’ under Stalin. The tenor of the presentation by the speaker, who had visited Russia, was on the efforts of unskilled workers undertaking the massive reconstruction.

The freehold of the pub is held by Green King.  Nos 2 and 3 St Martin’s were Grade II listed in 1950.

On your right at 11 Priory Road you will see the Park Tavern. Its existence postdates that of 1805 as there is no record of a pub at that location then.

For some years Mrs Gilmore was licensee here and was a licensed victualler in the area into her 80s. She died at the age of 91 in 1936.  In 1887 Mrs Pratt successfully applied for renewal of the licence, her husband Henry Pratt having some two weeks before been convicted and fined for selling drink during prohibited hours on a Sunday. However the bench cautioned Mrs Pratt against any repetition of the offence for which they were fined at the last sessions day.

In 1921 a new licensee Thomas George Purchase was given permission to change its name to The Ritz Hotel and to effect alterations to the premises to improve supervision; clearly to take the premises upmarket.

The Ritz was the centre for various community and sporting organisations hosting the AGM of the Priory Park Cricket Club and billiard competitions. In 1922 it was the venue for a two and a half meeting of a Sussex County Football Association Commission investigating ‘incidents’ concerning various small clubs in the district. One concerned Summersdale v. Fishbourne which led to the referee abandoning the game following the dismissal of a Summersdale player for a foul, the dangerous play adopted by the Summersdale players – who got ‘ratty’ after Fishbourne had scored – and the disgraceful behaviour of the spectators.

To give a sense of the harshness of punishments meted out not that long ago – in 1933 three ivory billiard balls were stolen and the accused was sentenced to one month’s hard labour by the Chichester City Bench.

The pub reverted to its current name in 1964; the freehold is held by Fuller Smith and Turner plc.

It is believed that in the late 18th century the first stagecoach from Chichester to London ran from the spacious yard of the inn which in 1805 was called St George under publican Mrs Miller.

The stagecoach, which was operated by Robert Quennel who lived in the neighbouring property, probably ended its journey at the thriving transport hub of the Golden Cross Inn at Charing Cross. In 1804 the poet and visionary, William Blake (1757–1827) travelled from London to Chichester for his trial of sedition, after he was accused of evicting drunken soldiers from his garden at Felpham with the words, ‘‘Damn the King, damn the country and damn you too!’  He may well have alighted at the George and Dragon having travelled along Stane Street via Petworth.

The yard continued to be used for the horsey fraternity with landlord Mr Goldie offering experienced instructors for riding hacks and children ponies in the 1940s. Accommodation in the form of flats were also available. In the days when the city had a bad reputation for drunken brawling, the George and Dragon must have had its fair share of altercations as it was known locally as the ‘Bucket of Blood.’ Wile no car parking attendants existed then, there were ‘paving commissioners’ to enforce the law. Landlord Hastings Langley, who kept the tap room,  was fined 10s and 8s costs in 1865 for leaving a waggon in Priory Lane.

It was the location for meetings by various organisations including the Angel Provident Society who held their first annual dinner in 1904 when the funds stood at £402 2s 9p being invested in the Post Office Savings Bank. The Friendly Societies Infirmary Demonstration Committee enjoyed a ‘smoking’ concert in 1903, a not infrequent event across pubs in those days for those addicted to the ‘weed’.

The freehold is held by the Punch pub group. The building was listed Grade II in 1971.

The building at 57 North Street is Georgian and was built in 1804–6 as the home of Admiral Sir George Murray, who distinguished himself at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and became Mayor of Chichester in 1815, the year he was knighted.

In February 1939 plans for a £25,000 licensed residential hotel, known as the Ship Hotel, were approved by the City Licensing Justices with a full license assigned to Mrs Betty Healy who was to be the resident manageress. The application was made by the then owners of the building, Allied Hotels.

Although the licenses conditions did not cover the provision of a bar, the application was opposed by Arthur Bennett the resident manager of the Dolphin Hotel and Mr Bisshopp licensee of the Old Cross. The former was concerned that his monopoly was under threat and the latter that there was no real market for dining rooms.

With the work of local architect Harry Osborn the Ship Hotel eventually opened to non-residents on 12 April 1939 offering 30 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, H&C water and central heating and a passenger lift.

Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery met here in 1944 prior to D-Day. In 2015 the Harbour Hotel group acquired The Ship Hotel renaming it the Chichester Harbour Hotel and Spa. The building was listed Grade II in 1950.

(1) Image from Alan Green

Formally the Green Dragon, the pub at No. 65 North Street was rebuilt in 1928 and given its current name in commemoration of the city’s outstanding Tudor market cross. The date of the rebuild is shown on dice embedded in the front wall.

The land here was owned by the Bishop of Chichester in medieval times which history was thought to explain the appearance of a ghostly apparition reported in 1938. Following the Reformation, two tenements were built on this site and by 1688 they had been converted into an alehouse. Alehouses (later beerhouses) were licensed only to sell ale or beer and could not sell more intoxicating liquors or offer accommodation.

A local sporting hero in the late 19th century was Mr D. Richards, once the world champion for the most cannons in billiards. He played matches and gave exhibitions in the Old Cross in 1897 and was pitted against landlord Arthur Purchase who was more than a match for the professional on points conceded to him.

Arthur was landlord for at least two decades till his death in 1911. The property remained in the family and was due to be auctioned in 1919 together off with the private residence at No. 66,  but was sold before it took place.

In 1930, following a temporary change in licensee to Frederick Munroe, Frank Richards took over the pub opening a new billiard room and promoting its new ‘Snack Bar’ apparently located at No. 35 North Street.

In 1939 the then landlord Mr Bisshopp was one of the objectors at a court hearing to the plans for a new hotel (which became the Ship Hotel) as he felt, based on his own experience, that there was little demand for dining-room trade. He thought the people behind the new restaurant were very plucky.

The present pub of this name dates back to 1997 and is situated in the western part of what were once the principal coaching inns of Chichester – one called the Anchor, the other the Dolphin.

The picture of the earlier Anchor Hotel above shows a meeting of the Chichester and District Motorcycle Club on Easter Monday 1913. In 1914 the Anchor Hotel (Home Counties Trust) was noted to offer ‘family & commercial; billiards, motor garage and inspection pit’ services.

Both inns date back to the seventeenth century, but it is possible that an older inn – The George – stood on this site by 1519 and possibly earlier. The Dolphin was already established in 1660 and in 1670 was noted as containing 23 hearths, a number only equalled by the Bishop’s palace. In 1632 Henry Chitty was Mayor of Chichester and took a lease of the Dolphin Inn, which he sold in 1637. Henry was the captain of the local militia, known as the trained band at the time of the Civil War. He was central in the defense of the City during the Civil War in 1642.

The city was bitterly divided during the civil war of the 1640s and this factionalism continued into the eighteenth century, with the Anchor becoming the headquarters of the Tory party and the Dolphin becoming the base for the Whigs. Elections in those days were very rowdy, with considerable drunkenness and riotous behaviour.

In 1922 the two inns had separate licenses and it was noted by the licensing authorities that there was no door or other means to separate one hotel from the other. It was therefore agreed that in future only one licence would be issued and that the premises from thereon would be called the Dolphin and Anchor Hotel. As state by the authorities, in effect it was simply the surrendering of the license of the Anchor and the extending of the premises of the Dolphin.

The Anchor Hotel’s ‘Whig and Tory’ bar has been converted into the present-day Dolphin and Anchor bar and was opened following the closure of the hotel in 1997. Several large retail outlets now operate from the former hotel buildings. The Dolphin and Anchor Hotel was Grade II listed in 1950.

The Duke and Rye  is a relatively new pub, situated within the former church of St Peter the Great.

Although the building appears to be old, even medieval, the former church of St Peter the Great was only completed in 1852 under the guidance of English Gothic Revival architect Richard Carpenter. A tower had been planned but proved to be too expensive; a porch was installed instead. The church was deconsecrated in 1982 due to the dwindling congregation and the cost of needed repairs. Despite much local opposition the District Council favoured a commercial use for the building and St Peter’s Market opened in 1983 for 19 privately-owed businesses. The building was restored by designer Tony Castley and reopened as the St Peter’s Slurping Toad ale house in 1998.(1)

The memorial garden to the left marks the spot where the church tower would have been built, but this plan never came to fruition.  This former church was Grade II listed in 1950.

(1) Based on information from Lorna Still, volunteer at The Novium Museum published in Chichester Post 17 March 2017

The Chichester Inn at 38 West Street is built on the site of a medieval house belonging to the Dean of Chichester Cathedral.

The house was left in a ruined condition following the siege of the city during the civil war. The house had been rebuilt by 1692 and by 1754 it had become an inn known as the Three Kings. By 1792 it was called the Duke of Richmond Arms but was recorded in 1805 as the Castle with Barrett named as publican (the Castle Inn is seen in the picture below).

It retained this name until 1992 then becoming The Chichester Inn. It was a popular venue for meetings including the Chichester Hand Bell Club from 1844, the draymen in the employ of Messrs George Henty & Sons, brewers in 1909 and the Committee of the Licensed Victuallers Association newly formed in that year. In 1905 ‘sixty yards of bicycles’ caused consternation when stood by the curb one behind the other outside the Inn. It was a visit by thirty of forty members of the Portsmouth Arrow Cycling Club who used the Inn as their headquarters. Twice that many were expected to visit the City the following week to sight-see!

In 1911 a reproduction of the long-gone Westgate Arch was created to commemorate the coronation of George V with one arch leading to the Castle Inn (as seen in an accompanying picture).

According to legend, the ghost of a Roman soldier haunts the premises. The building was listed Grade II in 1971 (then named The Castle).

Landords included: 1805 Barrett; 1832, 1839 Thomas Stone; 1851 J Heather; 1855 J. Bridger; 1861 Richared Louch; 1866 Edward Louch; 1890, 1891 William Millington; 1899 William Philmore Morris; 1905 Frederick Edward Augustus Greene; 1909,1911,1914, 1915 John Deighton; 1919 Mrs Lucy Dyton/Dighton; 1920, 1925 J. Hart

Some other images:

Another view of the ceremonial arch at Westgate.

The west gate entrance to the City stood till 1777 when it was demolished. The bottleneck for traffic is shown in the image below. Road improvements in the 1970s led to the demolition of houses in Westgate and the creation of the present roundabout.