*UPDATED BY CHARLOTTE DECEMBER 2023*
The early few years of this pub / lodging house are currently being further investigated due to new information coming to light. It was listed in 1872 as a pub with a start date of 1830. However it is not named within the exhaustive 1833 parish assessment. The building on the site, is listed then as the premises of fruiterer James Bowles, compete with orchard and fruit sheds. The Bowles family would have a long association with the Cherry Tree and he may have had a licence to sell beer at this earlier time. The assessor does not list all the uses the building is put to, but does generally list a beer shop's name. A short distance away and also occupied by a Bowles is The Royal Oak, Dean Street and we initially wondered if there had been some confusion over the pictorial sign and the assessor meant the Cherry Tree. However the Royal Oak appears to be a little further along Dean Street in the direction of the Jolly Maltsters and in the approximate location later occupied by the later Travellers Friend lodging house/beer shop.
There was also a well known Cherry Tree beer house at Flackwell Heath. The Marlow one was located in Dean Street, Spittal Street end. It has now been demolished.
1830 - premises first mentioned as a lodging house with the name of the Cherry Tree. It had a large cherry tree in the yard. It functioned as a low doss house early on, famed amongst the poor and marginalised across a wide area as a place they could find welcome, but was more respectable later on.
[1837- possibly Mrs Fry. In that year she had a lodgings house close to the Jolly Maltsters which would fit this location, though there are other possibilities]
1841- Ann Bowles?
1851 - Elizabeth Bowles? Or is it Ann?
1861 - William Price (and lodging house keeper) See also Travellers Friend, Dean Street.
1864 - Emma Brown, widow (Formerly of The Mint and Jolly Maltsters)
1877 - Emma Brown
1880 - Emma Brown died. Richard Bowles gets hold over.
1883 - John Finch (came from Bank of England, Dean Street)
1886 - Richard Bowles. Faces closure this year as it does not meet the minimum rateable value then required to be a licenced premises. It was decided to incorporate a small adjoining cottage into the Cherry Tree to nudge up the value. Several licensed premises were forced to do similar things this year. At first the licence renewal was delayed as it was noted the cottage had no interior communication with the pub and also was in the name of a separate tenant. The cottage exterior door was therefore bricked up and an interior communication door knocked through.
1888 - Richard Bowles. 2. George Pusey
1891 - George Pusey. May be the same man who was the pot-man at the George and Dragon in 1882. 2. Owen West
1893 - Owen West transfers to Sidney East
1896 - Sidney Herbert (alt. Sidney Frederick) East
1897 - "Cherry Tree Inn" Sidney East
1900 - Sidney East. 2. Frederick William Crump. "Spittal Square"
1901 - Frederick Crump (moved to Lane End to run The Old Armchair pub there 2. F Clark
1902 - Survived an attempt to close it down based on the number of other licensed premises nearby. In the end the licence was renewed on condition the rear access to cottages behind was stopped up, as it made the premises hard to police. At this point trade is called good, and there are 5 bedrooms, one for family use, others are let out. Fred Clark.
1903 - Fred. Clark
1907 Frederick Clark. A man hawks wool cardigans (a newish invention usually worn by men) in the taproom that year.
1909 - Fred Clark. Says his wife [Sarah] supervises the premises all day although his name on licence - a common state of affairs. It has at this point 4 bedrooms let to 7 lodgers which includes a family who are called long term residents. Otherwise they say they let rooms to single men who get one to themselves. The rest of the premises consist of a bar, tap room, and two parlours plus the landlords bedroom. Their trade of 104 barrels a year is described as very good for a beer house e.g they are not fully licensed and can't sell spirits. Referred to Compensation authority for potential forced closure, but survives the threat.
1912- Sarah Clark landlady buys stolen tokens for deliveries of coal and coke from the nearby gasworks. She pays 3 pints of beer, a packet of "fags" and a shilling sixpence for them and sends one of her lodgers to redeem the voucher at the gasworks. She was not charged with any wrongdoing herself. Perhaps because she bought the vouchers from a gasworks employee who was drinking in her pub. She had mentioned in conversation that she'd need some coke from his workplace soon and he told her she could buy the voucher from him. The amount paid for the items may have been low enough to warrant suspicion in a more thoughtful buyer but payment wholly or partly in goods rather than cash to businesses was not uncommon for poorer customers. It seems vouchers were bought ahead for a certain weight of coal or coke plus delivery if required and these vouchers were presented at the gasworks when the coal or coke was wanted. The vouchers should have been put away in a box as used and redeemed but had been taken away by an employee. We are not quite sure why customers could not just pay for the coal at the gasworks when they wanted it or on reciept of invoice. They may have been vouchers intended for one of the charities that distributed them to the poor.
1918- T J Willis
1919 Premises under alteration and repair.
1928 ; threatened with forced closure by the authorities yet again. But survives until...
Closed 1931. Last landlord - William George Marshall. At this time it was described as having a nice exterior (or as one in favour of its closure put it, a "somewhat pretentious" one) but the interior made it the "most inconvenient, darkest, dingiest, and least comfortable house." At this point only one room was in use by the public and this was divided to form the bar and tap room. It was also noted the house did a good "working class trade" which had actually increased significantly in recent years. No doubt the constant threats of closure had caused the landlords to restrict their investment in the property. But it is sad that a historic pub with a landmark green tiled exterior and a good and increasing trade was seemingly chosen for closure because the licensing and compensation committees didn't find the interior to their taste. Of course there were many other licenced premises very close by which was also a factor.
This post is updated as new information emerges. All listings are as noted in original sources, including alternative spellings.
Notes -
We mainly focus on pre WW1 listings but sometimes list later names if it ties in with research we are helping with.
The site of the Cherry Tree pub, now demolished.
Additional research by Charlotte Day.
Related Posts:
There are posts on this blog about individual families associated with certain pubs, as well as on individual pubs themselves so have a look at the Pub Related index here & don't forget the Person Index for all mentions of someone on this blog. Find it on the top drop down menu.
Posts about life in Dean Street and neighbouring streets here
More beer sellers than bakers -Temperance in Marlow here
Lists of posts about everyday life in old Great Marlow here
SOURCES
1853, 1863 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory from University of Leicester Archives.
Kelly's Post Office Directory - 1859, 1864, 1869, 1877. By Kelly's Directories Limited.
1833 Parish Assessment. Original record held by my family and transcribed by Charlotte Day.
1872 Beer House Listings, Old Bucks County Council Archives
Pigots Directory 1844
Census 1841,1861,1871,1881,1891 transcribed from microfilm.
Bucks Herald 17 July 1841, 9th August 1873, 22 May 1902 - held at British Library and accessed via the BNA March 2021.
Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 14 July 1860, as above
Reading Mercury -24 April 1847, 10 November 1855, 29 November 1890, as above
South Bucks Standard July 14 1876, 20 September 1899, June 10 1904, December 25 1908, March 25th 1909 as above.
Windsor & Eton Express January 25 1868, January 9th 1909 as above
South Bucks Free Press July 14 1860, July 24 1891 as above
Maidenhead Advertiser September 4 1889, as above
Report of the Compensation Committee, 1931.
©Marlow Ancestors.
