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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Topic started by: GuyMassey on Tuesday 11 July 23 11:58 BST (UK)

Title: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: GuyMassey on Tuesday 11 July 23 11:58 BST (UK)

I have several Licenced Victuallers or Pub Landlords in my tree and although I know most of the pub names and locations, I would love to be able to find out more about when my ancestors ran these premises. Directories either don't exist or the information is very sparse. Does anyone have any pointers for research please?

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: Ruskie on Tuesday 11 July 23 12:02 BST (UK)

I found one of mine here:
https://pubshistory.com/index.shtml

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: ShaunJ on Tuesday 11 July 23 12:05 BST (UK)

Contemporary newspapers carried reports of proceedings for transfers of licences etc

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: ColC on Tuesday 11 July 23 12:22 BST (UK)

I found some of mine in Birmingham & Warwickshire 1801 - 1828. below.

https://apps.warwickshire.gov.uk/Victuallersdb/victuallers/search

Colin

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: fiddlerslass on Tuesday 11 July 23 13:06 BST (UK)

Also try county record offices.

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: Rena on Tuesday 11 July 23 15:01 BST (UK)

I found Historical Directories very useful for information

https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4

**
There's a website devoted to the history of Norfolk pubs and publicans.

https://www.norfolkpubs.co.uk/utility/norfolk.htm

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: GuyMassey on Wednesday 12 July 23 18:16 BST (UK)

Thank you for your help everyone.
I have managed to track down three locations for three different relatives all of whom had pubs.
One of the best resources that I have found is https://pubshistory.com/ which gave me loads of information and put me in contact with Kevan who is collating lots of searchable information on the subject.

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: AntonyMMM on Thursday 13 July 23 08:30 BST (UK)

Quarter session, and petty session, court records often have records relating to licencing. Not often found on-line though.

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: GuyMassey on Thursday 13 July 23 13:28 BST (UK)

Thank you for the lead.

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: Tickettyboo on Thursday 13 July 23 16:53 BST (UK)

I traced the history of a pub's licences/ landlords  in Derbyshire via the newspapers.

Certainly in Derbyshire, licences given/taken away/transferred were reported as Brewster Sessions, don't know about elsewhere in the country.

Boo

Title: Re: Is there an an archive source for Licenced Victuallers, Publicans?
Post by: GuyMassey on Friday 14 July 23 12:27 BST (UK)

I have struggled to find any reference to either the pubs or family licensed victuallers (publicans) in any paper within the BNL which is now hosted by Find My Past. I have searched both national and local papers. Part of the problem I suspect is the dreadful OCR from old papers and scans, many of which were done when the technology was in its infancy. One day one hopes that they will be redone.