For those of you not conversant with English geography, Newark is in Nottinghamshire. But it's very close to the border with Lincolnshire. Go a few miles South or East and you're in a different county. It did have its advantages in the dark days of fixed closing times. Because pubs in Lincolnshire closed half an hour later at the weekend than those in Nottinghamshire. So many made a quick dash into Lincolnshire at 22:30 that they decided it was safer to have Newark adopt Lincolnshire's opening times.
| James Hole tied houses per county | ||
| County | No. of tied houses | % of total |
| Derbyshire | 7 | 3.38% |
| Leicestershire | 26 | 12.56% |
| Lincolnshire | 94 | 45.41% |
| Northamptonshire | 10 | 4.83% |
| Nottinghamshire | 59 | 28.50% |
| Rutland | 7 | 3.38% |
| Warwickshire | 1 | 0.48% |
| Yorkshire | 3 | 1.45% |
| Total | 207 | |
| Source: | ||
| Document ACC/2305/41/1 held at the London Metropolitan Archives | ||
Which explains why Holes had more tied houses in Lincolnshire than Nottinghamshire: getting on for half the total. Nottinghamshire is quite a way behind with just over a quarter, followed by Leicestershire. Those three counties contained around 85% of Holes tied houses. In all, they had pubs in eight counties.
| James Hole tied houses per town | ||
| Town | No. of tied houses | % of total |
| Boston | 5 | 2.42% |
| Chesterfield | 3 | 1.45% |
| Grantham (town) | 3 | 1.45% |
| Grantham and surrounding villages | 13 | 6.28% |
| Leicester | 8 | 3.86% |
| Lincoln (town) | 14 | 6.76% |
| Lincoln and surrounding villages | 24 | 11.59% |
| Loughborough | 5 | 2.42% |
| Mansfield | 4 | 1.93% |
| Market Rasen | 6 | 2.90% |
| Melton Mowbray | 4 | 1.93% |
| Newark (town) | 16 | 7.73% |
| Newark and surrounding villages | 32 | 15.46% |
| Nottingham | 5 | 2.42% |
| Oakham | 5 | 2.42% |
| Peterborough | 6 | 2.90% |
| Spalding | 12 | 5.80% |
| Stamford | 3 | 1.45% |
| Sutton-in-Ashfield | 3 | 1.45% |
| Worksop | 4 | 1.93% |
| Source: | ||
| Document ACC/2305/41/1 held at the London Metropolitan Archives | ||
In terms of towns, Newark and Lincoln had the most Holes pubs, but there was a surprisingly large concentration around Spalding. Also quite a few pubs around Oakham in Rutland. Most surprising is how few there were in Nottingham itself, just 5. The only explanation I can think of for that is that the three Nottingham breweries (Home Ales, Shipstone and Hardy & Hansons) had the town sewn up between them.
The majority of pubs were in a radius of about 25 miles around the brewery. The most distant was in Rugby, about 60 miles away. It's a nice compact estate. However, it includes a lot of village pubs. Many in pretty small Lincolnshire villages. There are relatively few in large cities. There are no pubs on the coast at all, the closest being in Wainfleet.
Unusual name, Hole. Did any of the brewing dynasty diversify into beer-friendly comestibles? A friend of mine is wont to sing a snatch of what I think is wartime doggerel, if not older:
ReplyDeleteI like Mrs Hole's sausage rolls,
Mrs Hole's sausage rolls like me