Toby Carvery Carlisle

History

Chain founded

1978-79, at the Artichoke Pub, Brentwood

Brand name from

1985, under Bass Charrington

Operator

Mitchells & Butlers Leisure Retail Ltd

The modern outlier, and there's no heritage here to report for the building itself. Unlike almost everything else on this site it isn't a converted historic building. It was purpose-built in the standard Toby Inn roadhouse style, on Warwick Road towards Stanwix. No older pub on the site, no listing, no State Management link.

The name is the oldest thing about it. Toby comes from the Toby jug, the character jug of a jolly seated drinker, which in turn traces to Toby Philpot, a legendary toper from an eighteenth-century drinking song.

The chain's own history is worth more than the building's. The first Toby Carvery began around 1978 or 1979 at the Artichoke Pub in Brentwood, the idea of the manager, Nevio Tedaldi, and Charrington's district sales manager, Kevin Garvey. Early sites were done out in mock-Tudor, and in the early 1980s the format was known as Mr T's C, or Mr T's Carving Room, under catering director Michael Sabin. Toby Carvery became a proper brand under Bass Charrington in 1985, trading as Toby Inns, then Toby Pub and Carvery, before the word pub was dropped from the name altogether. It now runs as a subsidiary of Mitchells & Butlers, who hold the licence here.

Carvery and an à la carte menu, breakfasts from eight, full bar, family-oriented. Refurbished in the 2020s and now more restaurant than pub. No opening date for this particular branch has been found.