Whiteladies Road, Northern End, BS8

Image: © David Hallam-Jones Taken: 31 Jul 2012

This is The Black Boy pub on the corner plot where Lower Redland Road joins and/or leaves Whiteladies Road. The myth that this pub was associated with the presence of a substantial number of young African slaves in this area, albeit Bristol's appalling record in slave trading, has by now almost been laid to rest. It seems that in the early 18th century there was an inn hereabouts that stood on an island of land in the middle of this main thoroughfare, a hostelry called The Blackamoor's Head Inn. However, by 1803 it had become known as The Blackboy Tavern. It seems that these premises were demolished in 1874 to allow for changes to the road, since up until this time the pub had straddled the road, thereby forcing traffic to pass round it. But how the inn got its original name and its subsequent names appears to remain the subject of debate.

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