Newcastle Street, Worksop, Notts.

Image: © David Hallam-Jones Taken: 8 Sep 2016

This pub, a dominant feature at the town-centre end of Newcastle Street is called "The Liquorice Gardens" in commemoration of the town's liquorice growing history. In a local survey of 1636 John Harrison listed seven tenants who kept liquorice gardens and stated: ‘I cannot here omit that thing wherein this town of Worksop excels all others within this realm and most noted for: I mean the store of liquorish that grows there and that of the best.’ Later still, in: "Worksop, the Dukery and Sherwood Forest, 1875", Robert White stated that : "Camden’s Britannia notices the fame of the town for this plant, with Speed saying that "In the west, near Worksop, groweth plenty of liquorice, very delicious and good." It seems that these gardens were mainly situated on the eastern margin of the park, near the present Slack Walk. The word liquorice means ‘sweet root’ in Greek and the substance is said to be 50 times sweeter than sucrose. It seems that at that time it was used to sweeten food, although the industry died out c.1750 when sugar cane from abroad became plentiful.

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