R B Lees Coaching Inn

[heywood]

Newspapers snippets referring to Mr R B Lee, Bolton Le Sands - the Black Bull (see 1911 also)

4th February 1911 Lancashire evening Post
 “sometimes in summer they had as many as 30 carriages at a time standing in front of the house.’

6th July 1912
“ in the case of the Black Bull, Bolton-le-Sands, owned by Messrs Yates and Co. Manchester, and tenanted by Mr. R. B. Lee …”

[ShaunJ]

The Black Bull at Bolton-le-Sands is a possibility. The proximity of another house to the left is a match.

https://redrosecollections.lancashire.gov.uk/view-item?i=225007&WINID=1722341448221&fullPage=1

[ShaunJ]

This seems to be the old Black Bull on Streetview: https://tinyurl.com/4kmyyhne

The lintel above the front door seems to match, but the wooden porch has gone.

[heywood]

Hard to say, I think. I have been looking for photos with no success.

[rosie99]

The downstairs windows do not appear to be as wide as the original picture

[JoeDuffy]

I think the Black Bull looks very, very promising. The gap with trees visible and the back corner of another building is a good match. Thank you so much to everyone, especially ShaunJ. I don't think I would have got this as I was too focused on LEES.

[ShaunJ]

Richard Barker Lee was also a cab proprietor and owned livery stables in Morecambe.

Something isn't quite adding up - the licence of the Black Bull at Bolton le Sands was transferred to RBL on a temporary basis  in December 1908, and then transferred formally in January 1909. So the September 1902 date on the postcard doesn't fit too well.

[JoeDuffy]

Had another good look at this. Could it possibly say "Joe Meakin, owner" instead of driver? Sept 02?

[arthurk]

I think it's Driver rather than Owner, but the other word isn't 'Sept'. It looks like (possibly) Brgt, and then it might be '02', but I'm not totally sure of this.

Something that's worth considering is the style of the postcard back. From what we can see, it looks as though it's an undivided back, with something like "This side for the address". Please could you confirm this? The alternative, which was introduced in 1902, was the divided back, with a vertical line down the middle separating the text and address spaces. But even after 1902, there will have been old cards to use up.

In the image itself, the ladies' hats look very Edwardian, but possibly mid-decade rather than the start? Others will know better than I do. And there appear to be petrol pumps either side of the pub door.

Finally, might you be able to do a high resolution scan of just the sign above the left hand window? The writing on it could be a useful clue.