Inns and Innkeeping
When the Romans came to Britain they built "tabernae" - wine shops - alongside roads and in the towns. The British preferred ale so the alehouse was born, with the tabernae adapting to beer selling - over the years these became taverns. We know little of the whereabouts of the Roman wine-houses or the Anglo-Saxon ale-houses but we can be sure of their popularity - weak beer was a staple drink, being far safer than water. By 1379 a gallon of white wine cost 6d and claret 4d in Chester. Over 500 Chester pub names have been recorded over the centuries with names such as the Sun the Moon & Angel, the Dairy Maid and the Blackamoor's Head.One of the oldest surviving medieval inns is the Blue Bell in Northgate Street - it's first recorded licence was issued in 1494.
House cellars often served as retail outlets for ale and were sometimes found beneath the houses of prominent citizens. They were named after these wealthy men in whose houses the ale was perhaps brewed. The city's tapsters also rented cellars in which they plied their trade and the more elaborate undercrofts were also used as taverns. In July 1610 the Assembly ordered that the windows and doors of the cellar in which a councillor kept a tavern were to be shut so that he be prevented from doing any further trade and the inventory of Alderman Thomas Thropp begins with the goods in his cell;er and tavern, which lay near the two churches in Bridge Street. The value of these goods was almost �90 and included Gascon wine and claret. The barrels and butts were kept in a storage area at the rear, divided from the tavern itself by a partition with glass windows. This was evidently an up-market establishment, boasting a collection of valuable plate as well as linen for the tables and seats.
By 1775 there was a well established hierarchy of inns in Chester. At the very top were the "county" inns, patronised by the gentry. Next were the coaching inns, then local taverns and lastly, the ale-houses.
THE COUNTY INNS Only three inns in Chester were accorded this status. The Talbot in Foregate St, the Royal (later the Grosvenor) and the Albion in Lower Bridge St. These were centres for fashionable entertainment, social events, race meetings and political gatherings.
THE COACHING INNS The first regular public coach service between London and Chester had started in 1657 but by the late 18thC the city had become an important coaching centre. Apart from their use as coach stages, these inns were used for public lectures, entertainments and group meeting places. Amongst Chester's earliest coaching inns were the White Lion, the Pied Bull and the Feathers.
TAVERNS Large numbers of respectable but unpretentious houses were to be found in the city. Many were patronised by the farmers, carriers and traders who visited Chester. These inns provided cheap meals and were centres of popular entertainment. Their rooms provided a convivial atmosphere for many local clubs and the city companies also met there. An example is the Boot Inn in Eastgate St. ALEHOUSES Contemporary writers tended to regard these as centres of drunkeness and crime. In reality they provided important drinking and recreational facilites for the working classes. They sometimes provided basic meals and communal singing, dancing and music.
INNKEEPERS The lifestyles of the innkeepers themselves differed greatly according to their houses. Landlords of the leading inns enjoyed a high standard of living but the publicans at the lowest end were frequently brought before the magistrates for petty offences. The majority nevertheless were respected members of the community.
Innkeeping had been a traditional occupation for women until 1540 when the City Corporation had issued an order preventing women between fourteen and forty from running taverns, in order to stop "wantoness and brawls..as thereby arise between youth and lightly disposed persons". By the later 18thC however many innholders were women.
The Company of Innholders, Cooks and Victuallers raised various issues regarding the trade, including the price and strength of beer and wines and the need to keep orderly houses. (Drunkeness was not only a problem in the poorer alehouses - at one assembly at the Royal Hotel, so many guests became inebriated that a surgeon with a stomache pump was called in!). Members of the Company tended to support each other in times of hardship and subscriptions were raised for the families of impverished publicans.
Since the end of WW1 many well-known pubs have either closed or been altered beyond recognition.In some cases the buildings have been retained and adapted to other uses. The Inn however still remains an integral part of the community and social scene for many.