Originally called Bridle Lane, it was renamed as Junction Road circa 1862. Everards seemed to have bought the inn circa1902, although it was there much earlier, the building looks closer to the 1840s. A court case of 1845 proves it was a beer house by then.
In November 1868 John Davis, the landlord of the Bridle Lane Inn, dropped dead whilst serving behind the bar. He was reported to have been only thirty four years old. His wife, Harriett, told the inquest that her husband was a fit and strong man, who only an hour previously had thrown a drunk customer out of the house.
The surgeon reported that Davis had suddenly died by syncope (like fainting) due to his heart stopping, possibly due to the excitement of ejecting a customer earlier in the day.
John Davis wife, Harriett, carried on with the license at the Bridle Lane. It looks as though she soon remarried as in 1870 the licence was transferred from Harriett to Walter Elton, her now husband.
By 1874, William Hall held the licence. In a strange case, the police objected to the renewal of his licence as he had recently bought a quantity of boot material and refused to hand over a portion to the police. The leather had been found later to have been stolen with a man convicted and imprisoned for it. The magistrates granted Hall’s renewal on the grounds that as he had never been charged or prosecuted for receiving, no crime had been committed.
The Birdle Lane as of writing is still open for business.
Their Facebook page suggests that they are only closed due to lockdown as they were still trading in September 2020.
Thanks for letting us know.
Im sure I remember this pub from my youth, it used to have a picture of an old man sipping a pint above the door if I remember.
Correct Alan, it was an Everards ad which they used on quite a few of their pubs.
Cheers
I used to live next door to THE BRIDLE INN IN THE 50s we had the groceries shop there