Castle Hotel - Tamworth

Castle Hotel - Old Pubs and Old Ales of Tamworth

Click on a thumbnail image to change the large photograph below - scroll the gallery with the arrows

Located on the corner of Holloway and Market Street, the Castle Hotel has been the town's principal hotel for almost 300 years. The Grade II listed building dates from the early 18th century but does have additions from the mid-19th century and also from the late Victorian period. Appropriate to its corner location, the hotel is based on a L-plan. The main entrance has a striking Tuscan porch topped with a decorative wrought-iron balcony featuring the town's Fleur-de-Lys insignia. This frontage has the mid-19th century addition to the right of the original building, and next to this is the garage, erected for the emerging motoring age. The date of 1900 can be seen in the shaped gable and beneath there is an extraordinary oriel window supported by large brackets and topped with a slate roof. Following the popular trend of the mid-late 19th century, the Market Street fa�ade has a shop-front entrance with six decorative Ionic pilasters. Overall, the Castle Hotel makes a significant and distinguished contribution to the townscape of Holloway.

The rear of the hotel extends to the mound of Tamworth Castle and, though mightily impressive, it is not the first imposing fortress to be built in Tamworth. Although no trace of it remains, King Offa, the Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia built a royal palace here in 757. When Alfred the Great's daughter, Ethelflaeda, defeated the Danes in 913, she ordered the construction of a wooden stockade to protect Tamworth. Following the Norman conquest, the fortress became the property of Robert le Despencer before his cousin, and another of William the Conqueror's barons, Robert de Marmion, opted to fortify the stockade further and eventually built a castle of which plenty of the original remains. Succeeding rulers all added to the building so that today it is a mixture of Norman, Gothic, Tudor, Jacobean and Georgian architectural styles. Measuring some 10ft thick at the base, the walls of the keep, along with the tower, are the work of the Marmions. Later Tudor work includes the warder's lodge and the grand banqueting hall, both of which have received Jacobean restyling. The list of visitors to the castle includes Henry I, Henry II, Thomas � Beckett, Edward II and James I.

In the advertisement featured above that was published around 1950 by the proprietors Frederick Smith Ltd., it is claimed that the Castle Hotel was first licensed in 1635. One assumes that the owners had all the documentation for the property so the claim may be correct - though it would refer to an older timber-framed building. The Castle Inn once formed part of the estate of the Marquis of Townshend but the family's interest was eventually sold in 1821.

In the 18th century both the Castle Hotel and King's Arms [later re-named the Peel Arms Hotel] across the road served as posting inns. At the dawn of the postal age, mail was transported by postboys on horseback. However, poor pay and mounts, combined with the dangers en-route and the fact that the messengers were often corrupt, resulted in an almost anarchic system. Consequently, the Post Office introduced custom-designed waggons with armed guards. There is only one report of the Tamworth mail being robbed. One constant was the timekeeping of the mail coaches. Legend has it that the inhabitants of Tamworth could set their timepieces by the arrival of the post.

The first post office in Tamworth was established on the corner of Silver Street and Market Street so coaches had the choice of logistical support at either the King's Arms Inn or the Castle Inn. The site of the timber-framed post office was eventually occupied by an extension to the King's Arms but the office was moved to another site in Silver Street. In 1818 it was run by Mrs.Hannah Kerr. Mail from the north arrived at eleven o'clock in the morning whilst mail from the south arrived two hours later. Tammies wishing to send letters had to deposit them at the post office an hour before the coaches arrived. Hannah Kerr had to be durable herself for the counter only closed between 9.30pm and 9am - a long day for the post mistress.

Following improvements to the road network through the turnpike trusts, the coaching era went into overdrive in the mid-late 18th century. It was a golden period for the established inns and taverns; hostelries offered weary travellers hot food, a warm fire and even a bed for the night. Meanwhile in the back yard a full range of support services were offered for the horses and the men that drove them. Owning and managing a trustworthy coaching inn during the late 18th century demanded dexterity of the highest order.

There was a degree of relative calm between midnight and dawn, but for the rest of the day the coaching inn was a bustling hive of activity. And to keep the hotel running like clockwork, an army of staff was hired. It was in the servants quarters that tragedy struck at the Castle Hotel on the night of November 2nd 1838. A fire swept through the building and, with their accommodation located on the top floor, six maids became trapped and perished in the blaze. Shocked by the incident, the whole of Tamworth turned out for the funeral. A monument to the six women was erected in St.Editha's churchyard. It was as a result of this dreadful conflagration that the first fire brigade for Tamworth was formed.

The effect on trade during the building's renovation probably helped the opposition across the road. However, in truth, the King's Arms had already won the battle between the two hotels in the early 19th century. The Umpire, Royal Dart and The Herald all called at the Castle Hotel's competitor on the other side of Market Street. However, the golden era of the coaching inn was short-lived because of another innovation in transport. Opened on August 4th 1839, the first railway line to serve Tamworth was the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway - later to become the Midland Railway. Innkeepers needed to be a little more innovative to attract custom and this is the reason for the horse and carriage in the first photograph of the image gallery. Taken around 1875 it shows the Castle Hotel's carriage used to transport customers to and from the railway station. The name above the porch is that of William Tempest, a Derbyshire hotelier who had previously kept the King's Arms which, during his tenure, had been re-named the Peel Arms Hotel.

The name change across the road not only commemorated the Member of Parliament for Tamworth and Queen Victoria's Prime Minister, it is thought that it also reflected the political opinions of the hotel's patrons. Moreover, it is also believed that those who patronised the Castle Hotel held views on the opposite side of the political spectrum. Consequently, the move from the Peel Arms Hotel to the Castle Hotel represented a polemic shift for William Tempest. Originally a farmer, he kept the Castle Hotel with his wife Ann who also hailed from Derbyshire. Seen standing in the porch on the first photograph in the gallery, William Tempest became a prominent public figure in Tamworth and, after relinquishing his interest in the Castle Hotel, entered the political arena. In the census of 1881 he is recorded as the Mayor of Tamworth and living at Mayfield House, a stylish residence at the top end of Gungate close to Perry Crofts.

In addition to serving as mayor, William Tempest was also a borough magistrate. Not that he was done with selling alcohol. Continuing to trade as a wine merchant, he took over the off licence on Lichfield Street located two doors away from the White Lion Inn. He appointed John and Agnes Fenner to manage the shop. Following the death of his wife, William Tempest continued to serve as a Justice of the Peace. Towards the end of the 19th century he married Louisa Brown, the daughter of a solicitor, former governess and niece to Robert Brown of Wigginton House. The former publican of the Castle Hotel died in the autumn of 1911.

William Tempest's successor at the Castle Hotel was Robert Griffin, a former farmer from Lincolnshire. He had accumulated wealth, first from his father's extensive estate, and through the sale of his smallholding. His life however was not without sorrow. His first wife died at a relatively young age and, after leaving the Castle Hotel, he resided at a nursing home in Bristol.

The next chapter of the Castle Hotel is a real rags-to-riches story. At the dawn of the 20th century the business was acquired by Charles Frederick Cast. Born in Hackney in 1856, he first came to Tamworth as a teenager and found work as a waiter at the nearby Market Vaults for William Wileman. It is not clear what he did during the 1880's but, by 1891, he was back at the Market Vaults - this time as the publican. A trade directory published in 1896 records Charles Cast as a wine and spirit merchant and agent for the City Brewery of Lichfield. The 1890's was another good decade for Charles Cast. He moved from the Market Vaults to take over at the Castle Hotel and in the autumn of 1904 was elected Mayor of Tamworth.

It was during the tenure of Charles Cast that the garage extension was added to the Castle Hotel. This addition showed that he was a man of great foresight and his investment anticipated the future growth of trade to be enjoyed by the motor car. Although the Peel Arms Hotel would add a garage to their property, the Castle Hotel had stolen a march and never looked back. In the inter-war years the bottom floor of the extension was transformed into a car showroom and petrol was sold from the pavement in front of the archway.

With their premises just across the road behind the former workhouse, it is no surprise that the Castle Hotel attracted the attention of Morgan's Brewery and, by 1908, they had leased the business. The Morgan family did not follow a conventional route into brewing. George Morgan made his money in coal mining before acquiring the Castle Brewery in 1882. The premises had previously been operated by Greenslade and Matthews and, before them, the Arnold family. George Morgan's eldest sons worked as coal miners themselves and this probably instilled them with a resilient work ethic. Edmund Morgan was running the company by the end of the 19th century. He held the licence of the Castle Hotel after it was purchased by the firm but this would have been perfunctory; a manager would have been appointed to run the place on a day-to-day basis.

Morgan's did not own a large estate of public houses but the company supplied beer to an extensive number of outlets and the workforce was substantial. The licensed houses they did own included the Bell Inn on Gungate Street, the Boot Inn at Grendon, the Mount Pleasant Inn at Baddesley Ensor, the New Crown at Wigginton, the Holly Bush Inn at Edingale and the Royal Oak at Polesworth. Ironically, George Morgan would have been a customer of the latter in the early 1870's when the family lived a couple of doors away.

Annie Morgan, wife of Edmund Morgan who died in 1923, sold the company to the Aston-based Frederick Smith Ltd. on June 30th 1942 for the sum of �69,000. Using the retail price index that is around �2.2m in today's money. Frederick Smith started his own brewery when he was just 21. He was however part of a family rooted in the industry of beer production. His father, William Smith, was a master cooper before buying a beershop in Gosta Green. A successful publican, William was able to establish his own brewery in Aston. This was called The Model, the original brewery of this name. However, this was not the Model Brewery operated by son Frederick. When William Smith died in 1878 and, in order to provide for a widow and eight children, the business, including the Queen's Hotel, Brewery and Maltings, was sold off. Although the brewery was bought by the Atkinson brothers, two of William Smith's eldest sons, Thomas and Henry, were able to buy two of their father's pubs for themselves.

Frederick Smith was only 18 years old and took the experience he had gained working with his father and became an employee at Atkinson's. After two more years of valuable training and experience, he went independent on August 18th 1880 by acquiring the neighbouring Victoria Brewery. These premises were further down the Lichfield Road in Aston. Frederick Smith was a very astute businessman and he was able to expand the business. By 1888 he had purchased adjoining land and built a larger brewery to supply an increasing number of outlets. This was called the Aston Model Brewery. In 1892 he built a sixty-quarter malt house and three years later the business was registered as a limited company. Continued expansion included the acquisition of more public houses and an extension to the brewery. A bottling plant was added around 1898. To ensure continuity of the business, Frederick Smith sent his eldest son Frederick to study at the Brewing School of the University of Birmingham. Younger son Sydney meanwhile concentrated on looking after the brewery�s tied house estate. The brewery was significantly improved in 1922. In addition to new brewing plant, a fresh artesian well was sunk to increase the online volume of the noted Aston water. In 1927 King George V knighted Frederick Smith for his services to the communities of Aston and Birmingham.

The sale of Morgan & Co. did not include the Castle Hotel so the brewery were seemingly tenants. However, Frederick Smith's did eventually acquire the freehold and, consequently, formed the union of the building with the former workhouse across the road which, in the new millennium, acts as an annex to the hotel. Morgan's had bought the property for use as their offices and they also owned the adjacent cottages numbered 2, 3 and 4 Ladybank. Donated to Tamworth in 1750 by Lord Weymouth and Lord Middleton, Brewery House once had a wooden bell-turret housing a sizeable clock and topped with a decorative weather vane. However, it was not the first workhouse in the town. Provision for poor children was first made available when Sir Thomas Thynne, Lord Weymouth presented the town with a barn in Schoolhouse Lane and, following the founding of a trust in 1687, a spinning school was established where children were provided with food and lodging in return for their labour spinning and knitting. The laudable altruism of the scheme was compromised when, through an Act passed in 1697, the Bailiffs and Capital Burgesses ordered that recipients of poor relief had to wear the letters T.P. [Tamworth Pauper] on their sleeves.

The first purpose-built workhouse in Tamworth was built by the Earl of Northampton in 1741 on a site now occupied by Yate's Wine Lodge. This workhouse proved to be too small for the town and the donation of the house in Ladybank was seen as a solution to overcrowding. However, this too proved inadequate and, following the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, Tamworth eventually constructed a new Union Workhouse just off Wigginton Road. In more recent times, the former offices for Morgan's Brewery was used by the Ministry of Labour when it became the local 'dole' office.

With Frederick Smith's having no need for the brewery buildings, they were occupied for more than twenty years by Gold and Wassall, a specialist hinge manufacturing firm that had been forced to relocate from bomb-damaged Birmingham. However, when they moved to purpose-built premises in the 1960's, the old brewery buildings were demolished to make way for a housing scheme.

Frederick Smith Ltd. were acquired by Butler's of Wolverhampton in 1955. Ironically, as can be seen in the advertisement in the gallery, the hotel was already stocking bottled ales produced at the Springfield Brewery. Born in the Black Country village of Ettingshall in 1816, William Butler started from humble beginnings. According to legend, he originally brewed on a very small scale and personally delivered his ales to pubs in a handcart. Nevertheless, the success of any brewery down the years has largely been through the quality of its products. The recipes of William Butler proved popular in and around the Ettingshall and Bilston area. By the early 1860's production at the Frost Streets brewery had increased and he was employing ten men. Continued expansion resulted in the move to the Springfield Brewery at Wolverhampton. When the company was registered in 1891 its assets exceeded �1m.

Following William Butler's death in March 1893, son William Bailey Butler aggressively expanded the company by buying smaller breweries in order to secure a larger tied estate. The programme of growth was accelerated in 1923 when they bought the Dudley brewery founded by Jack Downing, adding more than twenty pubs to the tied estate. In the same year the company acquired the Bloxwich Brewery and its 42 public houses. The Cannock Brewery and 32 tied houses were snapped up two years later. Their largest acquisition before the Second World War was that of Eley's Stafford Brewery Ltd. Following the war, the company took over Bowen's of West Bromwich, Thompson's of Oldbury and Pritchard's of Darlaston. The company turned their attention to markets beyond the Black Country by acquiring Radcliff's of Kidderminster and Clarke's of Wellington. Targeting Frederick Smith's in the mid-1950's provided the company with an extensive tied estate in Birmingham, Warwickshire and Staffordshire. However, the company's growth led to panic in the Midlands region and the Cape Hill-based Mitchell's and Butler's brewery, in fear of their own position, reacted by buying out Butler's in 1960. This decade was to become known for big brewery takeovers and M&B merged with Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton in 1961 to form Bass, Mitchell's and Butler's Ltd. The name of Mitchell's and Butler's was slowly ingested into the Bass Charrington empire and its beers started to be produced in other parts of the country.

The Castle Hotel was later operated by the Doncaster-based Hunt Edmunds Hotels Ltd. before being sold to Rank. The Cartlidge family acquired the building in the early 1970's before selling to the newly-formed Castle Hotel Tamworth Ltd., a company set up by the individuals with an interest in the property. Subsequent owners have included the Altrincham-based Associated Leisure Homes Ltd. and Weldon Park Leisure of Liverpool. It was much easier to keep track of things in the old days!! Amid all the changes in ownership have come ideas on how to make the building more attractive to Tammies. Consequently, in 1972 a new restaurant was created and, in 1987, structural alterations for a nightclub on the ground floor were approved. At this time the club was called Knights but various names have come and gone over the years, including Susanna's, Lakins, Stripes and, in more recent years, Minstrals.

In the early 1970's when Norman Cartlidge was the licensee and proprietor, the hotel consisted of a discotheque and grill on the lower ground floor, the Hayloft Bar in the former lounge and reading room, the Torch Light Bar and Lounge, the ballroom and a banquet room. The Cartlidge's also operated an off-licence in Church Street called the Friar Tuck but this closed in 1975.

The public bar fronting Market Street is housed in a part of the building that, in Victorian times, was used as a grocer's store - hence the shopfront addition. In the new millennium the bar was called the Bow Street Runner, a name commemorating London's first professional thief-takers founded in 1750 by the novelist, playwright, journalist and magistrate Henry Fielding and his blind half-brother John. The Bow Street Runners quickly gained the nickname of Robin Redbreasts, on account of their scarlet waistcoats. The small force were attached to the court house in Bow Street established by Sir Thomas de Veil in 1740. Travelling throughout England, the main duties of the "Runners" was to serve writs and to arrest offenders. The mandate of the Bow Street Runners ended when the member of parliament for Tamworth, Sir Robert Peel, established the Metropolitan Police Force in September 1829.

� Kieron McMahon [Pubs and Breweries of the Midlands: Past and Present]