The Marquis of Granby

Gone

Licence extinguished with compensation, 1909

There now

Not recorded

Address

Longtown

Where exactly

In Longtown. The exact spot isn't known, so the pin marks the town, not the building. The position is approximate.

One of Longtown's old inns, trading before 1829 by the Solway CAMRA directory of the district's pubs, which calls it the Marquis de Granby.

James Johnston kept it in 1886, when he was one of three Longtown landlords licensed to sell drink in tents at the town's sports. That month his wife Margaret gave evidence for her sister-in-law, Margaret Barnfather of Bridge Street, charged with selling whisky without a licence. A blacksmith said he had stood treat in Mrs Barnfather's back kitchen, the whisky served in pewter 'noggins' at sixpence each from a three-gill bottle kept in a cupboard.

Mrs Johnston's answer was that Mrs Barnfather had come to the Marquis of Granby that afternoon, changed a sovereign over a noggin and come back three or four times for more, carrying it off in a gill bottle. The constable said that when he called at the Marquis the landlady had told him 'Mag has not been in here for months', and the landlord had added: 'No, she never comes in here.' The bench fined Mrs Barnfather £25 and costs.

John Story, for many years employed at Longtown station, took the tenancy in March 1892 with money borrowed from his wife and son. The son kept the bar, 'was very extravagant, and took pocket money very largely'; trade fell off, and a large quantity of ale he could not sell had to go back. In November 1893 Story was examined in bankruptcy at Carlisle, owing £260 against assets of £38, and a partner in the Wigton Brewery complained that he had ordered four gallons of Irish whisky after he knew he was insolvent.

In 1909 the Longtown justices referred the Marquis of Granby to the Cumberland Compensation Authority with three other houses in the town. Its owners did not apply for renewal, and in June the authority sent it for compensation with the Scotch Arms and the George & Dragon. The Solway CAMRA directory gives 1906.

Sources

• SOLWAY_PUB_DIRECTORY_Excl_Carlisle_Ver1.xls (Solway CAMRA / Stirling's list of Cumberland public houses, 1829-1938)
• Carlisle Patriot, 4 June 1886, p. 5: 'Longtown Police Court', 'Offence against the licensing laws: heavy penalty' and special licences (via British Newspaper Archive)
• North Cumberland Reformer, 25 November 1893, p. 3: 'Bankruptcy of a Longtown publican' (via British Newspaper Archive)
• Carlisle Journal, 4 June 1909, p. 6: 'Cumberland Compensation Authority: the "principal" meeting' (via British Newspaper Archive)

Also lost in Longtown

• The Bush Hotel
• The White Swan Hotel
• The Wheatsheaf Hotel
• The Scotch Arms Hotel
• The George & Dragon
• Monkhouse's Spirit Vaults

6 other lost pubs stood within 250 m of here. See them on the map

Still serving, near where it stood

• Longtown Social Club

  Longtown
  40 maway

• Graham Arms Inn

  Longtown
  40 maway

• The Tavern

  Longtown
  80 maway

• Metal Bridge Inn

  Metal Bridge
  4.6 kmaway