Pulling the pints down the generations

I've been learning about them from Maurice Roberts of Bramley Avenue, Worcester, who has fond memories of the city pubs kept by his father Bill Roberts and his uncle Mac Roberts.

But the family line of publicans began with Maurice's grandfather, William Roberts, who was a policeman in Victorian Worcester, before entering the licensed trade. He went first as landlord to the Perseverance Inn, at St George's Lane, then bought three central pubs in the city.

He was to be best-known during his long "reign" at the Saracen's Head Inn, The Tything, where he was mine host and had his family home from the mid-1890s until 1932.

A souvenir guide to Worcester, produced in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, said of the Saracen's Head Inn: "The proprietor, Mr W Roberts is a most genial host and spares no pains to ensure the comfort of his guests.

"His hotel belongs to a type of hostelry which is unfortunately fast disappearing. It is, in fact, one of those of the good old-fashioned, comfortable style, where a man may literally take his ease. Comfort is the keynote of the whole establishment, and the hotel is particularly noted for its splendid home-brewed ales."

In fact, William Roberts was also listed in the city directory as proprietor of the Saracen's Head Brewery.

Maurice Roberts points out that historically, the Saracen's Head was one of the main coaching houses on approaches into Worcester and, even in his grandfather's day, still had substantial stabling.

The other two pubs owned by William Roberts were the Golden Lion, opposite the Guildhall in High Street, and the Imperial Hotel in St Nicholas Street.

At the Saracen's Head, William Roberts and his wife brought up a family of nine children - three sons and six daughters - and he was to be particularly helped in the business by two of his sons - William John (Bill) Roberts and George Hector McDonald (Mac) Roberts.

"Uncle Mac often told me how he and my father would go out on the horse and dray delivering the Saracen's Head home-brewed beers to customers in and around Worcester. It seems too, that the hotel supplied meals to the warders at the old County Jail, not far away in Castle Street," says Maurice.

His grandfather William died in June 1932, at the age of 64. His obituary in Berrow's Journal said of him: "He was one of the best-known men in the licensed trade in the city and county."

However, with William Roberts' estate passing largely to his second wife, his sons Bill and Mac were spurred into entering the licensed trade on their own account.

In 1932, Bill, his wife Jessie and children Margaret and Maurice left their bungalow home in Ellis Road, St John's, Worcester, to take up residence at the Bird in Hand pub - a mock-Tudor hostelry which stood on the opposite side of The Cross from St Nicholas Church, close to the corner with Angel Street.

"As a little lad, I vividly remember going out to chat to policemen on point duty at The Cross, especially a Sgt Brock, who later went to work for solicitors Harrisons in admin. However, the Bird in Hand was a pretty horrible place and fortunately my parents did not stay there long, moving a short distance away to the Golden Hart pub in Sansome Street.

"Their time at the Golden Hart too, was comparatively short, because in 1936 they were given the licence of the Mount Pleasant pub in London Road - a smashing place where we were to spend 10 happy years as a family," says Maurice.

"My father did very well at the Mount Pleasant and was very fussy with the beer. He always strove to ensure it was in top condition, and customers would frequently comment on how good it was. In fact, one regular, a local builder who very much liked his pint, even got us to deliver a personal supply when he was a patient in the Royal Infirmary!"

But Maurice points out that the Second World War hit the pub trade to a degree because of beer shortages, and the Mount Pleasant had to shut at lunchtimes.

Unfortunately, ill-health forced Bill Roberts to retire in 1946, and he, wife Jessie and children Maurice and Margaret moved to a house in Lechmere Crescent. Alas, he died just two years later, at the age of only 50.

Wife Jessie was to long outlive him, dying only a few months short of her 100th birthday in 1996. She and daughter Margaret had their home for a long time in Andrew Close, Worcester, but Jessie was to suffer another sorrow.

Margaret, who worked at the former Tax Offices in Broad Street, was knocked off her bicycle by a petrol tanker and suffered a fractured skull and other serious injuries. A drug given as part of her treatment had the unfortunate side-effect of damaging her kidneys irreparably and, eventually, when she had a transplant, complications set in and she died within days. Like her father, she was only 50.

Mac Roberts, who lived to a good age, was a popular publican in Worcester for more than 35 years.

He and wife Mabel kept the Crown and Anchor, in Hylton Road, for a long time and were then mine hosts for a few years at the Crown Hotel in Broad Street.

Their last 11 years in the licensed trade were spent at the King Charles pub in The Cornmarket (in more recent time, the Slug and Lettuce).

The King Charles was also known to regulars as The Tubs because of the use of large varnished beer barrels as tables in the lounge and bar. The landlord came to be nicknamed Mac of the Tubs, but in 196 he and wife Mabel eventually retired and went to live at Martley.

The other Roberts "boy," Mac and Bill's brother Reg emigrated to New Zealand for several years but returned in the late 1940s and stayed initially with Mac at the Crown and Anchor.

Reg met up again with an old sweetheart - a member of the Park family of Park's Baths fame - and married, going to live at Deblin's Green, near Malvern. Reg worked for some years as an engineer at Meco.

Two of the six sisters of Mac, Bill and Reg were to be connected with the licensed trade.

n Dorothy Roberts married Bob Wilson, who ran the Kings Head pub at Upton-upon-Severn, following in the footsteps of his parents who had been mine hosts there for many years

n Ethel Roberts, in later life, became manageress of Charles Edwards, the Angel Place branch of Josiah Stallard Ltd., the wine merchants of High Street, Worcester.

She had left the Faithful City as a young woman to become an operatic singer and was to broadcast many times on radio. She married Reg Santall, the Warwickshire county cricketer but returned to Worcester when he died in the late 1940s, initially staying with brother Mac at the Crown and Anchor.

Like his father before him, Maurice Roberts went to Worcester Royal Grammar School and not only did well academically but excelled in sports. Bill Roberts had played hockey, cricket and football for WRGS and was also the school's 100 yards sprint champion.

Maurice, who attended WRGS from 1938 until 1947, was in the cricket, boxing, shooting and athletics teams and later, as an old boy, played cricket and shot rifle for the Old Elizabethans.

As an opening bowler for the OEs for 27 years, he achieved three hat-tricks and had a best bowling performance of 10 wickets for just 21 runs. He was captain for a time of the OEs rifle team.

And his shooting prowess was quickly recognised when he began his National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps in 1949. On the rifle range, he amazed the armoury sergeant with five bulls in five shots and was soon recruited into the battalion rifle and small-bore teams.

His proudest moment was when he won the RASC Young Soldiers Cup for rifle shooting. It was open to RASC servicemen across Britain and in the BAOR. He was also in the RASC tug-of-war team which reached the semi-finals at the Royal Tournament.

After National Service, Maurice returned to James Clarke & Co., the Worcester accountants where a colleague was Charles Bladder of the long-established city cycle and motor cycle firm in Sidbury. They remain friends today.

However, accountancy was not really in Maurice's blood and, when he was approached by Frank Lofthouse of Josiah Stallard & Co. to join them as a trainee manager, he jumped at the chance.

He was to remain with the wine merchants firm for about two years, in essence continuing the family line in the licensed trade into a third generation.

While at the Royal Grammar School, Maurice had "suddenly taken a fancy to learning German" and had worked hard on a three-year course in the language.

It proved to be a strangely prophetic move in view of romantic developments when he was a young man.

Despite his father's opposition, Maurice bought a motorcycle and regularly went out riding with another "biker," Les Painter ,whose father ran Sigleys, the former Worcester sweet manufacturing company.

"Unwisely, we decided one day to have a race up the Wyche Cutting at Malvern and I simply did not take one of the bends, ripping through a 40ft length of fencing before hitting the hillside.

"I didn't remember anything until waking in Malvern Hospital with a fractured jaw, two missing teeth, head injuries and concussion."

And one of the first faces he saw on regaining consciousness was that of a German-born nurse, Elfreda who, in time and by that turn of fate, was to become his wife.

"I didn't know at first that she was from Germany, but after a while we began to converse in that foreign language I had fortunately learned at school. She had a boyfriend at the time but during my 23 days in hospital, romance blossomed.

"She seemed to like my wavy hair," said Maurice smilingly, pointing at his baldness of today.

The motor-cycle accident put Maurice off work for six months and, as with accountancy, the wine business didn't prove personally fulfilling to him. He had a strong hankering for the travel trade and was delighted when Ted Frost, of Winwoods Travel & Shipping in College Street, offered him a job. He was 23 and said farewell to Josiah Stallard's.

Maurice was to have a long and successful career with Winwoods, a company formed in the late 1940s by Freddie Winwood. When Ted Frost became managing director, Maurice was invited to join the board of directors and was eventually to be MD after Ted Frost's death.

It was a travel agency with a staff of 11, and Maurice managed to lure most of the big local companies to use Winwoods to make all the overseas travel arrangements for their directors and representatives.

In 1981, however, Pickfords made an attractive bid for Winwoods Travel, and the board agreed to sell out, though Maurice remained as manager of the agency which retained its name.

A year later, however, he moved to Hayward Travel in Pershore, the world's second oldest travel agency to Thomas Cook, but when this Midlands company later went out of business, he transferred to Atlas Travel in St John's, Worcester, remaining as manager for six years, until taking early retirement shortly before his 60th birthday.

Maurice married nurse Elfreda at St George's Roman Catholic Church, Worcester, in 1955 and they went on to have a family of four - Nicola, Susan, Simon and Sarah. There are now nine grandchildren but, alas, Elfreda died suddenly last year.

Returning to an historic note, Maurice Roberts' maternal family line is also long-established in Worcester.

His grandfather on his mother's side was Arthur Probert, who kept Deighton's Book Shop in High Street, in the early part of the 20th Century and was also a partner in Phillips & Probert, the printers in Lowesmoor.

Composer Sir Edward Elgar was a frequent visitor to Arthur Probert's book shop and became a friend. Other customers included Worcester Cathedral organist Sir Ivor Atkins and his son Wulstan, Elgar's godson.

Arthur had a great love of music himself and was closely associated with the Three Choirs Festival for more than half-a-century. In fact, the committee presented him with a Westminster clock in 1933, to mark his "50 years association with the Festival".

Arthur Probert's wife, Emily was from the Baker family, who had a greengrocery shop in The Shambles for many years. Arthur and Emily's son Walter and his wife Olive ran the shop for a long period, and their son John still lives in the city.