Other lost pubs around the Milford Street area include The Anchor (Gigant Street); The William the Fourth (Milford Street); The Round of Beef (Milford Street); The Goat in Milford Street, The Royal Oak in Culver Street and The Brewery Tap in Rollestone Street which is remembered by Jeremy “Frogg” Moody:
“.. there was a pub down Rollestone Street almost opposite the Salisbury Journal office now, that was called the Brewery Tap, and no comfort spared in that pub. I mean the seats were just hard wooden benches and it was really rough inside, very, very, rough but, all … the people who drank in there had hearts of gold, absolute hearts of gold, do anything and if they saw a kid coming, oh yeah he’d be on their knee being bounced up and down, unfortunately for me they used to give me the occasional small glass of, completely illegal, rough cider, which I liked!”
Comments about this page
My uncle Bim ran the Milford Arms for years.lt may have been an old coaching stop back in the day.He made the news selling beer for farthings.
I went out with a boy whose best mate knew the Brewery Tap well (this was the late 60s). It did sound pretty primitive, even then! By coincidence (which is why I found myself on this page, after looking it up) I found today at a postcard fair in Bristol (but didn’t buy – too pricey) a rare postcard of Milford Street looking towards the Canal, and the Round of Beef was just visible on the right. I’d never heard of it before.
Thanks Frogg. I’m definitely going to try that the next time I feel under the weather!
Interesting the comment that rough cider cured a cold or flu! I remember as a young teenager having a bad bout of flu. Dad came back from the Brewery Tap with a plastic bottle of rough cider which he poured into a metal pan. He then placed the poker into the coals of a fire in our living room and when it was red hot, he plunged it into the cider! He then added honey to the hot cider and told me to drink it and go to bed. I did just as he asked. In the morning I woke up cured but with a thumping head which was a small price to pay – and I have been drinking cider ever since!
What a shame that your grandmother wasn’t allowed to keep the pub, Donna. It sounds like a fantastic establishment. Does anyone else have any memories or even any photos of The Brewery Tap or any of the other “lost” pubs?
My grandparents- Vera and george Johnson- were the last landlords of the Brewery Tap , and we used to spend all our holidays with them as children .When my grandfather died, my gran was not allowed to keep the pub on .
I had the pleasure of drinking in the Brewery Tap on Saturday afternoons in the autumn of 1971. I was a trainee bricklayer working at Merill Close near Odstock employed by Brown and Sons .My labourer, a weather beaten faced man called Sammy Sanger used to invite me down in the afternoon from work.This was a tiny one room bar with hard benches on all the walls.Smoke painted the atmosphere and working class men chatted about times gone by.There was only one drink you could get in this place.Rough cider in glass tankards cloudy full of bits like fresh squeezed lemonade but sharp and dry to the tongue.Best cure for any cold or flu!It was situated behind Salisbury bus station’s adjoining wall and I remember hearing about the landlords untimely passing in 1972 due to complications of his stomach.It was never opened again and shortly there after demolished.i remember it must have had a cellar because after it was demolished there all that remained was a very deep hole.
Add a comment about this page