Its predecessor was a fine well-conceived inn, the destruction of which, with nearby property and the lives of those unfortunate people dwelling therein, made one of the grimmest of many evil nights when Boston was the target of the Luftwaffe.
West Street altered that night and we lost a part of Boston now forgotten and one never to exist again. Loveley’s Temperance Hotel on the corner of James Street was swept away and the Royal George, Mr. Lingard’s music shop, Mr. John Goodacre’s baker’s shop, and much other property in the neighbourhood was turned into so much rubble. So a great square of waste land was created, then came back Mr. Loveley’s temporary premises and the green wooden structure that was representative of the Royal George.
The Royal George that was bombed was one of the old-world inns, there was the popular old bar on the left of the door that faced West Street, and on the right the cosy old “snug”, the Landlord and Landlady were Mr. and Mrs. W. Dennis. The illumination was never very bright, but after shops had closed in the evenings dominoes, darts and all the other things you associate with a pub went on inside.
William looked after his house well, he was a smart little man, with mutton chop whiskers and his wife commanded such respect that never was anything said out of place. It was a hostelry of the old school with its wide open doors and ample stabling accommodation for Mr. Dennis’s horses and four wheeled cabs (called growlers) which would take people to the ball at the Assembly Rooms or the station to catch the early train to London.
So we come back to the 1950’s when it was decided to build some permanent buildings on the bombed site, a new Royal George included. It continued as The Royal George until well into the 1990’s and then changed its name to “Spatz” for a while.
Finally, it ceased to be a public house and is now an Indian Restaurant.
The site of the bombings and the new buildings erected in the 1950's.
Hi Billy
ReplyDeleteMy grandad was on fire watch when the bomb came down , it blew him accross west st and through a door and up a set of stairs, it seems he escaped injury . Two of the lovely's girls were asleep and fell on the ovens and died , also the brown family were all killed as the gas main had been broken and they were unable to escape as the bricks had trapped them and thay were suffocated by the gas. My mum lived in James st and the next day they could not go to school as the top of the st was blocked and the other end was closed as the bodys were laid out in the Great northern pub yard . Mum said that the bomb had caused a soot fall in their house and it took days to get rid of it, this was fourty six James st my nan lived there for seventy years
Those killed in this bombing are buried in the 'new' cemetery in the WW2 section. My mum went dancing with the Lovely girls often when there was a dance at St Georges Hall...also now sadly gone under the sea of concrete that is laughingly called 'modern' Boston !!!
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