The pub first appeared in the census of Newton in 1881 when Stephen Bamford, his wife and 7 children were in residence.
Newton children often sat on the windowsills outside
, listening to the music and chatter inside, or skipping or playing marbles in the light cast by the Inn’s lights.
Listen to this Oral history by Brenda and Alan Dumelow for a walk through of the pub and some of it’s characters in the mid 20th Century, from which this written description below is taken.
Entering the pub, the first door on the left takes you into the Main Bar. Straight ahead was a blackened range with coal fire. Strangely there was a second small fireplace to the left of the bar. Opposite the bar was a piano in the corner, in later years replaced by a Jukebox bringing the end of the sing-alongs.
Back in the entrance hall, on the left was a serving hatch with sliding door, where you could get your drinks if you were in the other rooms.
The narrow back room was popularly known as the Railway Carriage. It had bench seats either side and no table, and was styled like the non-corridor railway carriages of the time. In this room would often be found a solitary gentleman, Fred Sharpe, who kept the bookmakers on Main St.
The centre door led to the cellar steps. Barrels were lowered into the cellar through the still present trapdoor in Bamford Street.
The front room on the right shows a pool table introduced in the 1970s; in the 1950s the room had the nickname The Basket Room, as it had wicker chairs and tables. Was this considered ‘The Best Room’ in those days?