Photo above: No. 125 Belgrave Gate is the tall building on the right.
Pre 1837 called the Magpie Beerhouse.
A few cases mention the Magpie. One, in June 1836, when a PC was attacked and severely kicked in Mr Metcalf’s Magpie. Post 1837, it was called the Crown & Magpie.
Robert Metcalf seemed to be licensee up to circa 1850. In 1843 he was charged with assaulting his wife, Phoebe, and threatening to stab her. The Metcalfs were still there in 1849 when they were found guilty of after hours drinking. Very little is known after 1850 of Crown and Magpie, aside from clues in a handful of court cases.
In October 1856, on Beast Day, a grazier named Wright allowed a woman to get on the wrong side of him, easing him of two cheques of large amounts and some cash.
In a separate incident Inspector Smith was apprehending Mary Coleman and her paramour, William Beaumont, in a low beer house called It’s a Sign the Case is Altered. Smith observed one of them throw something in the corner of the room, the Inspector picked up the folded paper, found it to be two cheques one for £296, the other for £48 to be cashed at two separate banks. After enquiries were made they were traced to the grazier named Wright. The two prisoners were remanded to the Assizes.
In 1863, Millicent Preston is listed as running an unnamed beer house, a year later the beer house is named It’s a Sign the Case is Altered. Millicent was still here in 1868.
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