The 1835 directory listed it as the Tanners Arms. In 1840, it became the Foresters Arms after it was used by the Foresters Insurance Society, one of many sick clubs that were ran from pubs before the introduction of National Insurance.
In 1854, the pub came up for auction including brewery vessels, 160, 80, & 16 gallon coppers, mash tuns, coolers, pumping and working vats. 8/56 gallon barrels, 1/66, 1/46, 2/36 and one 10 gallon.
The Barber family ran the Foresters and brewed their own beer for over thirty years until Everards bought the pub in 1895.
Albert, son of Albert James Hawker, the champion penny farthing cyclist and grandson son of the famous ‘Victorian poacher’, kept the Foresters from 1945-1956.
This 1960s colourised photo by Rob Hubble shows a more sedate Frog Island with Foresters behind tree and North Bridge Tavern right foreground.
Everards sold the pub to Banks Brewery, circa 1989, and six years later Banks passed it on to a pub group. The fine Victorian building in the background was burnt to the ground by an arsonist c 2003.
