Bury St Edmunds historian Martyn Taylor explores a tale of two big pub players in the town

Two sons of Francis and Sarah (née Richardson) Clark were Francis born 1797 and Frederick born 1799.

Both sons grew up to become innkeepers but would also dabble in the property market in Bury St Edmunds especially in the early years of Victoria’s reign.

Francis junior’s first venture into the inn trade came around 1830 when Pigot’s trade directory has him as the landlord of the Bull. It has to be assumed that this was the inn of that name that used to be on the site of the former borough offices on Angel Hill (now registry office). However, he was not there that long because in 1836 he moved down Angel Hill to purchase the ancient Cock and Pye inn on the corner of Angel Hill and Northgate Street.

The Cock and Pye had closed around 1807 and was in a poor condition when Francis bought it.

However, the ambitious Mr Clark invested in it, turning it about and renamed it the Globe with the intention of it becoming a stagecoach inn, as good trade and money could be made in these days from coaching services.

At the rear of the now newly named Globe backing on to Looms Lane were four houses owned by the Jacob Johnson Charity.

Jacob was a wealthy merchant who had left by his will of 1708 these properties for widows of St James Parish, one being rented out for the maintenance and benefit of the others.

The charity was now being administered by the Guildhall Feoffees.

Anybody who was anybody in those days was a Feoffee, these prominent men included Francis King Eagle the first modern mayor of Bury in 1836.

He had tried to upset the status-quo in Bury by standing as the unsuccessful radical candidate in the general election of 1832 against the well-heeled local aristocracy, his supporters subsequently holding meetings at the Globe.

As Francis Clark owned some property in Northgate Street near to where Mark Jennings Lane is today (by the way Mark was the engineer who worked on the Greene King Brewhouse of 1939) he approached the Feoffees to strike a deal regarding the Johnson charity properties and his own.

Thus by a deed of exchange Francis acquired by now the four dilapidated properties in Looms Lane and the Charity the property in Northgate Street.

His intentions were to demolish most or if not all of these houses and turn them into stables and accommodation for grooms, coachmen, drivers etc for his Globe Inn.

Unfortunately for him something occurred in Bury St Edmunds that he had not taken into account or even anticipated; the railway came to the town in 1846, thus curtailing his ambitions.

And what of his brother Frederick? At the time brother Francis had become the owner of the Bull in 1830 Frederick had become the landlord of the Coach and Horses on Honey Hill and from there he became the landlord of the Dog Tap on the corner of Churchgate Street and Angel Lane.

All during this period of time the brothers had expanded into the property market.

They would build a terrace of six cottages on what is today The Vinefields, a date stone on the gable end records this, F.& F. Clark 1834.

They may have even been involved with no 15, Bridewell Lane which has a date stone of 1846 and the letters F. F. at its rear.

So what were the repercussions for Francis of the arrival of the railway’s arrival in Bury?

It would seem the financial world of Francis in particular took a turn for the worse as he was declared a bankrupt in 1848, the Globe closing then and suffering demolition in the same year. Francis died aged 56 in 1853, a broken man.

As for Frederick, he was by then living at 4, Brentgovel Street, he would die in 1870 aged 71, both brothers are buried in the Borough Cemetery.

Postscripts to this story:

The site of the Globe, no 18, Angel Hill would have fine properties (now Willetts solicitors) built by builder Henry Reed also responsible for Reeds Buildings off Northgate Street.

At Johnsons Buildings coincidentally were another firm of solicitors until 2021, Charles Frazer & Co.

The old adage of not believing everything you see in front of you is very truthful as I am sure the plaque of 1708 did not originate there; the building surely is not that old.

The Coach and Horses at various times was owned by Bishop’s Brewery of Guildhall Street, Cambridge Brewer Hudsons and Biggleswade brewer Wells & Winch. This at one time one of the few pubs not owned by Greene King in the town, Wells & Winch would later succumb to a G K takeover.

The Dog would evidently become Berry’s bakery and Nos 1-6 and The Vinefields is today a terrace of completely unaltered Grade II listed houses.