HISTORY Gornal's Lost Pubs: Contributions Welcome Update 21/12/04 Bull & Butcher


21/12/04 Chris Enright and Harold Davies on the Bull and Butcher:


27/11/04 Martin Tomkinson tells us about the Cross Keys


23/9/03 Dawn Beagrie tells us:

My mother and father (Chris and Stan Witton) owned the Good Intent in Upper Gornal during the late 1980's.

Also, the Witton family (Stan - my fathers uncle, Lil and May) ran the White Chimneys pub in the centre of Gornal. This must have been in the early 1970's before June and Tony.

In fact, we also owned the little Chip Shop (not Shan's) also in Gornal village.


26/4/03 Mike's article sparks Ian and Lynn to tell us more about the Lion Click here

23/4/03 We're grateful to Mike Hammond for this information about more of our lost pubs Click here

Here's a page on The Swan - please send us further memories!

Thanks to Gary Tilyard for photos of the Limerick (Click here) and Ellowes (Spriggers Arms) (Click here).

Thanks also to Beth Moore for sending us her memories of lots of now-departed pubs, including landlords, friends, and relatives.
Have you got a mention? Click here

We have contributions from June and Tony who ran the White Chimneys,
and Gornal ex-pat Peter Mudge sends his Chimneys memories from Australia. Click here

.. and many thanks to Mat at the Dudley News for introducing us to The Sunshine, and Barry Clarke for his contributions Click here

Lost Pubs of Gornal Email Us Here Yampy recently received the following email from Andy: I read with interest the article on the close of the Bricklayers Arms in Upper Gornal. The closure of pubs in the Gornal area is nothing new, and if you have a think about it there are quite a few pubs between the Labour Club in Upper Gornal and the Straits House which have now gone forever. Just a quick tally reveals some old favourites and, in their time, some of the best pubs in the Black Country. I can remember all of these and I was only born in the sixties. The Shakespeare, The Durham Ox, Cross Keys, Five Ways (one of them!), The Sunshine, The Ellowes, The White Chimneys, The Junction, The Pear Tree, The Limerick, There may be others (ie. The Swan) - Food for thought? We thank Andy for raising this subject, because with the help of Yampy readers we would like to begin the process of compiling a historical record of our lost pubs. We appeal to Gornal stop-outs across the world to use Andy's list as a starting point for sending in your own memories and knowledge. Here are some of the things we are particularly interested in: 1) Pubs not on Andy's list, even if they vanished before any of us were born. There was presumably at one time much more competition for the Jolly Crispin, Green Dragon etc. on the turnpike road, for example. 2) The exact location of lost pubs. Of course, several on Andy's list would be known to almost everyone still living in Gornal; The Shakespeare, Durham Ox, and The Junction for instance. However, we have deliberately begun with a blank sheet so that Yampy reflects your memories rather than attempting to direct them. 3) Why were the pubs lost? What became of them; flattened for new houses, converted to a private home, turned into a shop etc. 4) Were you the licensee, or do you know him/her? Yampy believes that several ex-landlords still live in the Gornals - one or two will still be running a pub we're sure. 5) Stories about the pub, its characters and events; paint us a picture of the atmosphere and good/bad times you had there. What was the beer like? What was the company like? If enough of us make the effort, the results will begin to hyperlink across to other Yampy pages and we will hopefully build up a valuable archive. We reckon that useful Family Roots information will also emerge. Even if you just have a few lines to relate please get in touch, we'll publish anything that doesn't land us in court. Many thanks.