Post 1815 is the first recording of a Sailors Return. Was this the culmination of thousands of soldiers and sailors returning from the Napoleonic Wars? It might have been a name change as there were half a dozen pubs on the West Bridge that predate 1815, but no actual position.
Mr Hargraves was listed as victualler in the 1820s. During his time he had two deaths occur in the Sailors Return. In August 1823, a framework knitter named Orton hung himself in his bedroom at the pub.
Then in 1828, an old man, Thomas Brown, walked into the pub and immediately dropped down dead. Verdict at the inquest: ‘Died by Visitation from God.’
Mr Hargraves would die, aged seventy-seven, in 1841. 1864 J Lane? licensee died at the pub, he was followed by Samuel Glover who also died there in 1870, Mary Glover took up the reins until 1892 when Katherine Glover was installed. 1892 William Harrison is listed as landlord, Wm still there after the rebuild.
The pub occupied a large yard which accommodated a blacksmith’s forge which Abel Hammond ran and put up for sale 1879.
The M S & L Railway bought and demolished the old Sailors Return, circa 1894, using part of the pub’s grounds. A new Sailors was to be built.
At the Brewster Sessions in 1895, the magistrates granted a special grant for the old premises to be demolished with a new Sailors Return to be built at 16-18 West Bridge Street. Plans and Sale notice, 1897 above.
1907 Joseph Rider? for a few months, John King the same year, 1912 John Markham, Fred —son 1923 and William Hall 1929 completes the entries in the licensing records (some illegible)
The Sailors Return closed circa 1958, but the property was used by nearby Pecks Hosiery for the next decade.
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