Courtesy of their great granddaughter, Christine Paterson.

Courtesy of Christine Paterson.

The Talbot Hotel, 27 Market Place, on the corner of Spring Head was built in 1879 to replace an old inn of the same name, dating back to Elizabethan times. The old pub featured in the colliers and miners riots in August 1824 when a company of regulars from the Staffordshire Yeomanry were mounted in the yard to control the rioters. At the time around 30,000 striking colliers were assembled in the Turk's Head field. They had been forcibly ordering the miners who were still at work to join them. Many colliers were detained and tried at the Petty Sessions in the Turk's Head. Some were committed to Stafford, from where twelve or so were transported for life.

Another view of the old Talbot Hotel.

In 1818 Joseph Hateley was landlord and a maltster. By 1828 Edward Nightingale had taken over, and in 1851 the licensee was John Guest. The new Hotel was built by wine and spirit merchant John Taylor Duce to house the pub and his business.

The pub had an unexpected and interesting tenant in the form of Sidney Webb the undertaker, who started his business in the cellar of the hotel. He founded the business in 1894 and later moved to Willow Mews in Meeting Street, before opening his establishment in Upper High Street.

John Taylor Duce became a wealthy man. In 1881 at the age of 56 he lived at Dunston House, Dunston, which is on the A449, just over halfway between Penkridge and Stafford. The late 18th century house is still there today, opposite Dunston Parish Church. John lived with his wife Harriett; daughters Ellen, Selina, and Charlotte; sons William and James; and a housemaid, parlour maid, scullery maid, and a cook.

By the early years of the 20th century the hotel had been taken over by Hickman & Pullen Limited who brewed the range of 'Entire' ales at their High Bullen brewery.

On 8th July, 1918 the front part of the building in the Market Place became Wednesbury Labour Exchange when the Local Employments Committee took out a twenty one year lease on the property at an annual rent of £300. The committee had the following members:
Chairman A. E. Pritchard, J.P.; Vice-Chairman C. W. D. Joynson, J.P.; Secretary Mr. A. S. Morgan; and Assistant Secretary H. W. Bayliss.
The Manager of the Labour Exchange was Mr. A. S. Morgan.

In 1927 Hickman & Pullen Limited decided to sell the building. At the time the front part facing the Market Place was occupied by the Labour Exchange, and the part in Spring Head had become the 'Standeford Bar' under the management of Mr. O. T. Ayre. It consisted of a bar-smoke room and a children's room. In the cellar was a large bottling stores with a bottle and bottle washing department with brick bins, a labelling room, a stacking room, and stores. On the Spring Head side there were also two large rooms which had been used as stores, but were advertised in the sale as capital assembly rooms. In the yard were stables, a garage, and toilets.

Hickman & Pullen Limited also owned the King's Arms pub on the High Bullen and the adjacent brewery and maltings. In May 1927 it all went for sale at an auction held at the Grand Hotel, Birmingham. At the time the licensee was Mr. W. Beddow.

The pub consisted of a bar, front and rear smoke rooms, a snug, an outdoor, and a public dining room and kitchen. The first floor contained a large assembly room, three bedrooms, a box room, a store, and toilets.

There were two brick-paved cellars with brick stillaging, a wine cellar, and a rolling way from the yard. Outside at the back were toilets, a pleasure green and a garden.

The six-quarter brewery consisted of beer, sugar, and malt stores, fermenting, cooling, and malt crushing rooms, a boiler house, and a cask washing shed. Outside stood the cooperage, the bottle washing room, a spirit stores, and a general store.

The ten-quarter maltings included a malt kiln, a drying kiln, steeping and drying stores, a basement store, and a stoke hole.

There was also a two-storey office building with a general office and a manager's office.

An advert from 1922.

The Old Barrel. Courtesy of David Adams.

In 1921 the licensee was A. Blakemore, who was followed by David's grandfather George Golcher. This photograph was taken in 1922 and shows George Golcher on the left, with his friend Mr. Harvey.

George Golcher was licensee of the Old Barrel for about twenty four years, until his death in 1947, when it was taken over by his son, Alfred Adams, who ran it for two years.

George was known as the landlord who never called time. When drinking-up time came, he indicated it by putting on his straw hat.

David Adams spent the first eighteen years of his life at the the Old Barrel.

The pub had many sporting connections. Jimmy Driscoll the boxer trained there, and it was home to a pigeon flying club, and a cycling club.

The Old Barrel stood in Darlaston Road, on the corner of what is now Parklands Road, where the flats now stand.

The obituary on the left, also courtesy of David Adams, is dated 21st June, 1947.

The Whitehall family ran the Cottage Spring from 1908, when it was acquired by William Whitehall. It remained in the family until 1965 when it was sold to Holden's Brewery. At one time it had its own brewery.

William was born in 1858 and died in 1938. His estate and business was left in trust for the benefit of his remaining family. He had previously been a Gun Lock Forger. He had a large family, with 11 children from his first marriage, and 3 from his second marriage, this being to Sarah Wakefield of Oldbury.

A framed copy of the photograph below, was presented to Holden's, at the Cottage Spring, on Sept 8th, 2013 by Sheila Whitehall-Martin during her visit from Australia. Fourteen family members were present, including grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren.

From 1860 to 1868, and again in 1870 the licensee was Joseph Brittain who issued the token, seen below.

Courtesy of Jean Brittain.

The Brittain family kept other Wednesbury pubs. William was licensee of the Old Royal Oak Inn, in Meeting Street from 1849 to 1870. His son Thomas kept the Cross Guns in Bilston Road from 1860 to 1873. Another member of the family, Henry Brittain became an engineer and went to Spain, where he became a bull fighter.

Courtesy of Jean Brittain.