The Lord Nelson.

On a winter Sunday evening in 1969 the 160 year old Lord Nelson pub in High Street opened its doors for the last time and the landlord and landlady (Tom and Kathleen Clarke) threw a farewell party to mark the event. Regulars like Bill King, George Aisthorpe, Edith Tebbs and Ellen Brackenberry were there to bid a fond farewell to the pub they had called at every week for nigh on forty years. But other old regulars George Revell and Fred Boothby chose to sit by their home fires and silently recall the pub in its heyday of community song to the jangle of a frequently out of tune piano. " Still," said Mr. Clarke, " It's not like old George to miss his Sunday night down at the Nelson, and at 87 its a bit late in life to start hunting for a new bar to prop up !"

The Lord Nelson stood in High Street.

 

"Old George," would surely have relished the quantity of free beer and turkey sandwiches on the final lap. About 100 customers did so and, indeed, a few lingered on to savour the last moments - long after " Time, Gentlemen Please " rang out like some death-knell at 10.30 p.m."

Said Mr. Clarke, " Most of the regulars refused to accept it was their last night at the Lord Nelson and many of them don't yet know which pub to go to next. We too were quite upset about it, although we had only been at the Nelson for a short time. The first Christmas we were here we were made to feel quite at home, they have been a really good crowd." Among the farewell gifts to the couple were a clock, a dressing table decoration, two bouquets to Mrs. Clarke and a gold cufflink and tie pin set to Mr. Clarke.
The old pub was ripped down because it stood in the way of the construction of the new John Adams Way inner relief road.

Below: Thankfully saved, the two figurines that stood above the Nelson doorway. See picture above.

 

 

 

 

LIQUORPOND STREET

There are a couple of stories to suggest how Liquorpond Street got its name. The first is that there was once a chain of ponds around the area and two extensive breweries, one at the Lord Nelson and one at the Royal Oak might have discharged their surplus water into one or other of these ponds.

Another more interesting one is that an old sailor went into one of the pubs in High Street and while the landlord was not looking stole a bottle of liquor. The bottle was missed almost immediately, and when the landlord went to the door of the inn he saw the man running up High Street. Together with other men he gave chase, and the man was caught in the lower part of what is now called Liquorpond Street but was then Walnut Tree Pasture. The man denied having stolen the liquor, but was handed over to the officers of the law and ultimately put on trial. The man had been thoroughly searched but no liquor was found on him and he was acquitted. About 20 years later one of the ponds was being cleaned out and the missing bottle was found. Realising that he could not outrun his pursuers the old sailor had evidently thrown the bottle of liquor into the pond.

SOME PHOTO ODDMENTS.


Here are a few pictures that I can't find stories for at the moment, I hope you enjoy them.

In 1978 this lorry got stuck when the driver tried to get out of Mitre Lane in Bargate.

One of the many sets of cards given away by Beaulahs of Boston with their food products.

The Railway Mission Hall was in Fydell Crescent. Marriots Motors offices were built on the site and thankfully Marriotts kept this stone and built it into the new property.

The sixties group The Animals, on stage at the "Glider"

The last commercial sailing vessel to leave Boston Dock.

Some Boston nick nacks for the tourist trade.

An old Vesta case (match case) showing the Boston Coat of Arms.

An old picture of Carlton Road School.

Houses that were pulled down in Duke Street.

Looking out onto the Market Place from the Peacock and Royal window, note the Rum Puncheon in top right corner.

The Peacock and Royals curved window on show at the Guildhall.

Lord Nelson's Field in about 1966, built on its place now is the Nelson Way Industrial Estate.

Buildings on the corner of Pen Street and Main Ridge, demolished when John Adams Way was built.

The building of John Adams Way in the 1970's, with The Ram pub at centre right.

An old potato weighing machine used in the old hand-picking days.

The demolition of the Regal Cinema in West Street.

This is the Zion Church which was itself demolished and the Regal built on its site.

An old Lincolnshire Road Car bus and below an old Sharpes bus.

And finally some more nick nacks.

Lord Nelson figurines

These two figures were removed from the facade of the Lord Nelson Public house in High Street, Boston, in the 1960‘s.

They were auctioned at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex in October 2009 and fetched £12,000. The figurines can be seen on the original building below each side of the second upstairs window to the left of the picture. It wasn't unusual for Boston to have two pubs side by side, the Rumpuncheon and the Angel in the Market Place were also neighbours.

Circus procession in High Street

Thank you to Sandra Nuttell for sending me these pictures of High Street in the 1950's. She informs me that the ones taken highest up are from Bank House in High Street where she spent part of her childhood. Before the days of Health and Safety when a circus came to town it was customary to have a procession like this to advertise the circus.

Below: Just visible in the distance are the Royal Oak and the Lord Nelson pubs and a building on the corner of Liquorpond Street that are all now demolished.