The Queen's Head - a 350 year story

Image: © Neil Owen Taken: 28 Jan 2016

The village of Willsbridge dates from at least Anglo-Saxon times and the waters flowing through it would be the key to its growth. Various industries were based around it, including brewing. The present building began in the 1660s as a substantial private house, but has been altered and extended at times throughout. It was part of the larger estate that included the nearby Londonderry Farm, which is of the same date. The occupants began to brew ale using local water and gained a reputation in the vicinity for hospitality. Food and a warm fire were also offered and it would have been brought to the local authority's attention that it was doing so. No evidence exists of licensing until 1719, which permitted the kitchen to provide food for customers as well. The pub also served as a Court Leet in the eighteenth century and also held parish administration sessions. Among other things, the Queen's Head was the meeting place for a Friendly Society and also where inquests were held following some of the frequent deaths that occurred in the local coal pits. As an effective national postal service started to take shape, Willsbridge played an important part and the Queen's Head became the first Receiving House outside Bristol to handle mail. Being a public house in the nineteenth century usually entailed many unsavoury characters and incidents in this relatively poor and working-class part of the world. However, in the 1860s the Queen's Head retained a respectable and well-regarded reputation (as befitting a house where many church vestry meetings were discussed) and so was granted an Alehouse Licence - the landlords were held to account over their customers' behaviour and were permitted sell a range of alcoholic drinks, whereas less trusted inns could only sell weaker beers. The pub saw many landlords through the years and welcomed many customers, including colliers, tanners, railwaymen and an R.A.F. party during the war who arrived to investigate the crash of a Spitfire on the hillside above. But the late twentieth century began to see the demise of the Queen's Head. It was badly affected by the terrible floods of July, 1968, when torrential rain caused the brook to be blocked by debris. The weight grew too much and a wall of water crashed into the pub, inundating it to a height of five feet of filthy swill. Despite that, the doors were opened again after a big clear-up. As Willsbridge became a hamlet increasingly encroached by modern suburbia and its esteem diminished, modern changes of trends led to falling income, leading to rapid landlord and brewery changes. The pub also began to experience unruly customers and attracted the concerns of the police. Eventually, the Queen's Head closed in 2010 when the owners, The Pub Company, went into administration. After standing empty for some time, the initial asking price of £195,000 was reduced to £155,000. However, the pub did not sell and so has been offered for conversion back into private residence - back to where it all began well over three hundred years ago. The Queen's Head is a Grade II listed building.

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