City Vaults, 9 Smithford Street
These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
BEERHOUSE | |||
1866 | 1879 | WINE AND SPIRIT VAULTS | |
1879 | 1892 | CITY VAULTS | |
1892 | 1893 | CITY WINE AND SPIRIT VAULTS | |
1894 | 1912 | CLARENCE HOTEL | |
The photograph above, taken by Joseph Wingrave in the 1860s, is exactly how the premises and its surroundings would have looked in its early days.
Until 1865 this was a ladies and gents clothes shop, but on the 26th January 1866 Andrew Sumner, having only the day before mutually dissolved his partnership with his father, Charles, opened a Wholesale Wine and Spirit establishment at No. 9 Smithford Street, passing this business on to James Colley in 1870.
From 1879 Thomas Ball began to advertise it as the CITY VAULTS, and for just 6 months from July 1892 until early 1993 Hugh Thomas Gregory advertised constantly in the Midland Daily Telegraph his CITY WINE AND SPIRIT VAULTS.
When William Hadfield took the reins in September 1894 it became the CLARENCE HOTEL until closure in 1912. | |||
LICENSEES:1879 Thomas Ball 1881 Ebenezer Barfoot 1884 - 1885 Henry Wilford 1885 - 1887 Robert Neil 1887 Ellen Eliza Powell (Jan to Jul) 1887 Josiah Mills (Jul to Sep) 1887 - 1889 Thomas Ball 1889 Joseph Peabody (Jun to Aug) 1889 - 1892 George Herbert Bamford 1892 Hugh Thomas Gregory | |||
Street plan of 1851 | |||
Previous page: City Mill Inn | This page: City Vaults | Next page: City Wine and Spirit Vaults |