Unicorn, Eastern Green Lane
These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
1850 | 1924 | BEERHOUSE | |
1851 | 1989 | UNICORN | |
1989 | 2013 | SCIREBORNE TAVERN | |
2013 | present | UNICORN | |
From 1850 to 1924 this was the BEERHOUSE, Lower Eastern Green, although on a map of 1888 it is named as The Unicorn public house. It was a cottage on Unicorn Lane.
The Wills family, early licensees, were cordwainers, who ran the beerhouse as something of a sideline.
In 1937 the new Unicorn was started opposite the old one. However, due to the intervention of the war, it remained a shell. The roof was on but the floorboards had not been put in. It was completed after the war but did not open to business until 1954.
The original Unicorn reverted to being a private residence and still stands to this day opposite the new pub and called 'Unicorn Cottage'. The new Unicorn is an imposing mock Tudor structure, surrounded by trees that screen it and its grounds from the road.
The unicorn is a legendary animal, which has a horse's body with a single long horn, supposedly possessing magical powers. The pub name has heraldic origins. The unicorn supported the Scottish Royal Arms, and when James IV of Scotland became James I of England he brought the unicorn into the English Royal Arms, replacing the Welsh Dragon. The unicorn is also in the arms of the Wax Chandlers, the Goldsmiths and the Apothecaries. | |||
LICENSEES:1851 John Wills cordwainer 1863 - 1879 Arthur Wills cordwainer & beer house keeper 1929 E. Burbridge 1931 - 1940 Henry French 1981 - 1983 Bob Goold 1985 Mr S. Walton | |||
OWNERS:1985 Ansells | |||