The Borough Arms - Newcastle-under-Lyme

      (Researched and written by Mervyn Edwards 2003)

A plan of Newcastle-under-Lyme date circa 1785 shows three roads emanating from the Marsh Estate at the bottom end of the Ironmarket. These roads, marked as "New Road to Wolstanton", "to Etruria" and "to Stoke" would later become known as Queen Street/the Brampton, King Street and Brunswick Street respectively, and are all clearly shown on the Hargreaves' Map of 1832. The ruinous state of the Marshlands led to the area being enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1782, and a Trust was set up to administer this. Following the removal of refuse and other nuisances, another Act of Parliament (1783) permitted the now enlarged body of Trustees to grant 15 building leases so that the aforesaid area could he developed.

One of the first developments was the building of the Newcastle Theatre which opened in 1788. The purchase of one of the leases led to a pottery works being established by James Bulkeley of Huntley, Cheshire (a professional soldier) and Mr William Bent (a part-time surgeon) of Newcastle. The firm was founded in 1790 or 1791. They built what is now the old part of the Borough Arms Hotel, on the corner of Water Street, as part of their pottery manufactory. The unsuccessful business was dissolved in November 1797. However, Bent (the driving force behind the original failed partnership) converted the potbank into a brewery, a pottery oven becoming a malt kiln in the process. His new business partners were James Caldwell, a potter, and James Barrow, a local financier. According to the historian W J Thompson, Bent's brewery was based in Newcastle between 1799-1836, in which year it moved to Liverpool.

The premises were then transferred to Messrs. Rogers, Hindle and Baker of the North Staffordshire Brewery in Water Street which became Baker and King (1867) and King's Brewery in 1886. Also on Water Street was the Waterloo Brewery of Chesters, which operated between the years 1860-1880. The sites of these two breweries are now occupied by the Magistrates Courts. Notwithstanding the aforementioned competition, Bent and his five sons created a prosperous brewing empire which had capital interests of over a quarter of a million pounds in 1890. Caldwell was Newcastle's Recorder from 1800-1837 and partnered Enoch Wood, at the Fountain Place Works, Burslem between 1790-1818.

The opening of a railway passenger station in King Street in September 1852, serving travellers between Stoke, Newcastle and Silverdale was a major factor in the decision to apply for a license in 1853 to convert part of the brewery site into an inn. The Borough Arms opened shortly after. The 1861 Census records the Borough Arms in Upper King Street being kept by Mary Webb (unmarried, aged 62, Hotelkeeper) living with a son, two daughters and two servants. A pressing problem for Mary Webb was the emerging competition provided by a nearby rival, the Victoria, which had opened in King Street certainly by 1860. Discussions at the annual licensing meeting for the Borough in September 1861 centred around the application of Thomas Black of the Victoria Inn for a licence to sell spirits. This was opposed by Mrs. Webb of the Borough Arms. One of Black's many supporters at this time was (ironically) Samuel Hyslop, draper and the future proprietor of the Borough Arms. Mr. Winstanley, representing Black, stated that if it were granted a spirit licence, "The Victoria would accommodate a class of customers - workmen and the like - who would not care to frequent Mrs. Webb's, as being of a more superior character". Mr. Knight, for Mrs. Webb, pointed out that she kept "a tap room for the accommodation of the persons alluded to". In 1862, innkeeper Black applied to the magistrates for the third time for a spirit license. Mr. Knight again represented Mary Webb, and cited the proximity of the Victoria to the hotel, and asked for the application to be refused on the grounds of the smallness of its rooms. The application was rejected again, but the Victoria's aspirations were not to be dashed. Following renewed efforts, the spirit license was eventually granted in September 1864. By the mid 1860s, the Victoria began to thrive, being a few minutes' walk from the railway station and offering comfortable accommodation, dinners, teas, etc.

However, 1869 was to prove a significant year in the story of the Borough Arms Hotel. It was announced in the press that Samuel Hyslop had taken the hotel, "conducted by MISS WEBB, and family for the last 15 years". The Borough Anns was well-equipped to provided food for various gatherings from the 1860s onwards. Following a local Volunteers' drill on Wolstanton Marsh in 1861, the men afterwards proceeded to the Borough Arms for refreshments, whilst events held in Stubbs Walks, such as the Newcastle Horticultural and Allotment Society's exhibitions (which were accompanied by music and events) boasted refreshment tents - Mr. Hyslop being the caterer in August 1870. The 1871 Census lists Hyslop (aged 39,1 hotel keeper, born Dumfries, Scotland) as married to Mary Ann Hyslop (aged 31, born Congleton. Cheshire) and their two sons, aged 6 and 2 years, as well as four servants and a hotel servant. 'The two young children, especially, must have been alarmed by the storms and severe flooding of local streets, houses and pubs in August 1872. Upper King Street was just one of the thoroughfares affected by the floodwater: "the stream rushed into the yard of the Borough Arms Hotel, literally swimming the pigs out of the stys, flooding the stables, and rushing into the cellars of the brewery of Mr. C. H. King. Here, great damage and heavy loss must result".

The hotel continued to entertain and provide food for numerous societies, accommodating the annual dinner of the Hartshill Cricket Club, the annual dinner of the Scotch Drapers' Association (at which Hyslop, as one of the attendees, performed a song), a dinner for the employees of the NSRC's Newcastle Goods Station, a dinner for the mace-bearers and the police, and several dinners to the workmen of the Springfields Brick and Tile Works, all in the early 1870s.

By this time, it was becoming clear that the popularity ofthe Borough Arms (especially among the middle classes and the societies to which they belonged) was beginning to necessitate an extension to the premises. The proximity of the railway station remained a source of revenue to Hyslop, whilst the Newcastle Theatre at the foot of Brunswick Street also benefited the hotel. In 1872, Hyslop applied to the magistrates to grant him an extension beyond the hour of 11 pm on the nights the theatre was open. He argued that "each night traps had to be put up at his stables, and they had to be got after the house was closed, and the owners wanting refreshments could not have it". In January 1873, the magistrates permitted Hyslop to keep the hotel open until midnight in order to accommodate the supper of post office officials.

By this time, Hyslop's status in the town of Newcastle had been elevated through his commercial interests and his high profile as a civic dignitary. Information contained within a "Graphic Description of Newcastle-under-Lyme 1893" tells us that he was born in Dumfries in May 1830 (although the 1871 Census records his age in that year as being only 39), and commenced his career as a draper in 1848. He began trading in Newcastle in 1858, and had married Mary Ann Webb, the fourth daughter of the late Mr. Edward Webb in 1864. He became a member of the Town Council in 1868, and was Mayor between 1872-3. In November 1874, the Borough Anns was offered for sale by auction at the North Stafford Hotel, Stoke. Hyslop was ultimately able to purchase it for £3,360.

Extraneous developments continued to boost business at the hotel. The North Staffordshire Company opened a rink near to the railway station in April 1876, whilst the station itself was improved by December. Hyslop now being the owner of the hotel, he was more able to bring some of his major plans to fruition. In September 1876. at the annual meeting of the North Staffordshire Licensed Victuallers Society, Hyslop, as President, had argued that "with regard to the enlargement of property he said he thought the magistrates would see the inconsistency of preventing an enlargement of premises where it was required to meet the public convenience". A new assembly room was subsequently built to further accommodate social gatherings. The new room was erected in February 1878, and fronted King Street. The public dinner which accompanied the opening was attended by 70-plus guests. Alderman Mellard (the Mayor of Newcastle) presiding. Burslem Vocal Union provided the musical entertainment. Mellard "remembered the Borough Anns before it was a licensed house, and he also remembered the father and mother of the present hostess keeping the house when it was first licensed. It had continued with the family ever since, and though the family name of the proprietor was changed, there was still to be seen the excellence of the old family management. From one member of the family to another the business had passed until it came into the hands of the present host, a gentleman who, like others of his nationality who had settled in this town, had not made bad use of his time since he came to the borough. He was sure it was a happy day for Mr. Hyslop when he met the present hostess". Hyslop, responding, said that he "had long contemplated an enlargement of the hotel, but was unable to make a satisfactory arrangement with the then owner. A few years ago, however, he became the purchaser of the premises; and thought the provision of additional accommodation had been delayed for a time, it was now an accomplished fact. It was no ambitious motive which had prompted the enlargement of his house. Its contiguity to the railway station caused it to be frequented by large numbers of persons, and the amount of commercial business which came to the house rendered additional accommodation necessary..."

Hyslop advertised the new, improved hotel in the local press, as suitable for (among others) Commercial Travellers and Families. The new accommodation was swiftly brought into requisition, and in 1878 the annual dinners of Hartshill Football Club and Hartshill Cricket Club were both held at the hotel. Hyslop suffered minor embarrassment in August 1879 when, at the annual licensing meeting for the Borough, he (as Chairman of the LVA) was accused of never having applied to the magistrates "for an extension of his licence to the large new premises which he had added to the Borough Arms, and in which he was in the habit of selling drink". His licence was temporarily witheld, but renewed without much opposition at a special court held in September. Hyslop became Mayor of Newcastle again in 1892-3. He is listed as proprietor of the hotel in Kelly's 1900 Directory, but died in 1901. Albert Ludecke ("late of the North Stafford Hotel") is listed in Kelly's 1904 Directory.