Corner of New Bridge Street/Raglan Street-Infirmary Square.
No known photo yet of Lord Raglan. (Photo Above) This is from the Dennis Callow collection and is tantalisingly close, as the fishing tackle shop is no 53. Lord Raglan is no 55 on the left, only partly in view this photo from 1966. The Raglan had by then been closed two or three years.
John Bray was granted an ‘old type beerhouse licence’ in 1856. With his wife, Betsy, he often entertained various societies, including Sir Thomas White Lodge of the Oddfellows.
The Raglan brewed its own beer. In 1862, Thomas Greaves, a brewer aged fifty committed suicide by throwing himself in the nearby canal at St Marys Mill. His body was found by the lock keeper when he saw a ‘billycock and slop’ (bowler hat and over vest) floating in the water. Greaves body was conveyed to the Lord Raglan to await the inquest. The case didn’t state where Greaves was a brewer.
The Brays were entertaining until 1870 when they provided a tea for inmates of the Trinity Hospital whose ages averaged 75. The newspaper reports that the inmates ‘partook of the cup that cheers but does not inebriate’ then the room was cleared for singing and dancing, several of the old ladies fancied they were young again and ‘tripped the light fantastic to the strains of a string band until the early hours.’ Whatever was in their drink the Brays should have patented it.
John Bray died in 1871, and Betsy took over the licence, Betsy had cause to call the police when son-in-law Jonathon Goddard was threatening to kill Betsy and daughter Catherine. Goddard was bound over in the sum of £40 – a large amount in those days.
In 1874, Betsy Bray decided to sell the pub together with four adjoining properties in Raglan Street.
Alf Orton took over in 1879 from Charles Smith but was to die within the next two years. Mrs Orton advertised the premises for sale, together with brew house in May 1888, although the Ortons continued to run the pub – notably John and Thomas – until circa 1904.
The area was demolished circa 1973 to make way for the infirmary extension and new St Andrews Estate.
A full list of licensees can be found in J R’s lists.
