Royal Oak Public House

Royal Oak public house October 2007

Royal Oak Public House: 91 Woburn Road, Kempston

This public house |began life as a cottage built by Thomas Abraham on a piece of land called The Nook which he had purchased from a Samuel Abraham in 1854. As soon as he had bought the land Abraham took out a mortgage with George Joyce, presumably to raise capital to build on it. The first specific mention of property on the land is in 1862 when he mortgaged two messuages he had built. The first mention of a licensed premises is in 1879 when Abraham mortgaged a beerhouse to Newport Pagnell brewers Francis Allfrey and William George Lovell. Interestingly Thomas Abraham first appears as a beer retailer in Kempston in 1858, although the beerhouse is then called the Elm Tree.The 1881 census reveals that he was born in Wootton in 1811 and was also a market gardener. He is last listed as a beer retailer in a directory of 1894 and in that year he sold the Royal Oak to Bedford brewer Charles Wells.

In 1921 Charles Wells sold the Royal Oak to competitors Newland & Nash for £750. That firm was bought by Biggleswade brewers Wells & Winch Limited in 1924 and Wells & Winch taken over by Suffolk brewers Greene King in 1961, the Royal Oak remaining a Greene King house at the time of writing [2007].

In 1927 Bedfordshire was valued as a result of the Rating Valuation Act 1925, every piece of land and building was valued to assess the rates which should be paid on it. The valuer visiting the Royal Oak found that accommodation comprised a bar, tap room, bar parlour, cellar, kitchen and wc downstairs with 5 bedrooms and a wc upstairs. Outside were a stable and barn, both used as stores. Weekly trade was light at a barrel and three dozen bottles of beer; the valuer noted: "Tenant declined to reveal trade on plea of ignorance thereof". In his summary the valuer noted: "Rather a poor looking place, misses the trade, licence old". The beerhouse became a fully licensed public house on 8 Mar 1956. 

Sources:

- GK131/1 and GK135/2: recited conveyance of land called The Nook from Thomas Abbott Green to Thomas John Green: 1841;
- GK131/1: recited conveyance from Thomas John Green to Samuel Abraham: 1845
- GK131/1: The Nook conveyed by Samuel Abraham to Thomas Abraham of Kempston, gardener: 1854;
- GK131/2: recited mortgage by Thomas Abraham to George Joyce: 1854, redeemed 1857;
- GK131/2: mortgage of The Nook and two messuages built on it by Thomas Abraham to John Conquest: 1862;
- GK131/2: endorsement of transfer of mortgage from John Conquest to Thomas Pinkard Clare: 1875;
- GK131/3: mortgage of beerhouse by Thomas Abraham, beer retailer to Francis Allfrey and William George Lovell of Newport Pagnell, brewers: 1879;
- GK131/6: beerhouse conveyed by Thomas Abraham to Charles Wells of Bedford, brewer: 1894;
- GK131/7: Land Tax redeemed by Charles Wells on Royal Oak: 1903;
- UDKP239: plans of new shed & piggeries 1907;
- PK7/4/2: file regarding renewal of licences: 1915;
- GK131/8: Royal Oak conveyed by Charles Wells Limited to Newland & Nash Limited for £750: 1921;
- GK297/2: one of properties transferred from Newland & Nash to Wells & Winch: 1938;
- BORB/TP/89/0036: plans for extension: 1989

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known: 

1858-1894: Thomas Abraham;
1901: Joseph Ames;
1903-1926: Charles William Jones;
1926-1940: Mary Ann Jones;
1946: James D. & Constance L.Kennedy;
1951-1955: Alice M.Lucas;
1963-1970: Edward Thomas Smart;
1970-1972: Brian Stanley Wildman;
1972-1974: Ronald George Roffe;
1974-1976: Mary Ann Roffe;
1976-1979: Brian Lawrence Ward;
1979-1980: Herbert Sansom;
1980-1983: John James Boland;
1983-1985: Bernard John Doggett;
1985-1990: John James Boland;
1990-1991: Patricia Carol Boland and Peter Gravestock;
1991-1992: Michael Allan Bedson;
1992-1995: Lawrence Patrick Hartnett