Until fairly recent times, beer and wine formed a major part of everyday diet, not least because of the poor quality of the water supply in towns. Many households brewed their own beer and some sold their extra production on to friends and neighbours. Those who produced beer on a large scale for sale in ‘public’ rather than private houses might regard this as their major source of income or treat it as extra income on top of occasional paid work in farming or a trade.
The sale of beer and wine was very loosely regulated until the 16th century, when Justices of the Peace were required to regulate three distinct types of premises: ale houses that provided only beer, taverns that also provided food, and inns that also provided accommodation. In Lostwithiel in 1577 there was just one tavern and 6 ale houses, together with a number of informal private houses that sold beer.
Spirits such as gin and brandy became popular in the eighteenth century for those who could afford it. The sale of spirits was regulated through heavy excise duties and by the stricter licensing of premises and those who sold it. These heavy duties encouraged the smuggling of brandy, which could often be made available more cheaply, and illegally, in ale houses.
Improvements to the roads in the 18th century made long-distance travel easier and led to the introduction of stage coaches on regular routes across the country. The St Austell and Lostwithiel Turnpike Trust was formed in 1760 and the first long-distance stage coach arrived in Lostwithiel in 1796. This was a regular service from Torpoint to Truro, running at a top speed of 4 mph along the ‘Great Southern Road’ (now the A390) from Dobwalls over Broadoak Down to Lostwithiel. The Royal Talbot Hotel was the principal stopping place for the London coaches right up to 1859, when the arrival of the railway pushed the coaching era into decline. It is notable that the London motor coaches of National Express still today use the Royal Talbot as their Lostwithiel stopping point.
As the number of coaches increased during the first half of the 19th century, so too did the number of inns to provide a change of horses and to supply passengers with refreshments and accommodation. Within Lostwithiel, taverns built or enlarged their stables to become inns and eventually hotels. The first road traffic accident in Lostwithiel occurred in 1815 amidst celebrations over the victory at Waterloo that ended the Napoleonic War. During the drunken celebrations, two local men suffered serious injuries when run over by the wheels of a stage coach.
Public drinking premises were known by the name of the owner and licensee and would generally advertise their presence by a distinctive sign board that became the basis by which these public houses became known. There was no public register of names and the houses were known only by the names under which their owners advertised them and/or by the informal names used by locals. Tighter regulation from the 19th century did lead to a regularisation of names and to a weakening of the differentiation between ale houses, taverns, and inns, all of which became known as ‘pubs’.
Our pub trail begins at the eastern end of town, at the Earl of Chatham, and takes you around the whole of the town centre through a tour of all 17 pubs, past and present: the Earl of Chatham, the Dolphin, the Globe, the Black Dog, the Maltsters Arms, the Royal Talbot Hotel, the Royal Talbot, the Royal Oak, Byways, the Fowey Valley Hotel, the Eagle, the King’s Arms, the Town Arms, the Spotted Dog, the Sailor’s Arms, the Monmouth Inn, and the London Inn. We hope that as well as enjoying the refreshments offered in our five surviving pubs, you will also enjoy a little shopping in the shops that have replaced the lost pubs and that lie along the trail.
So, walk to the Earl of Chatham and click here to