The Cross Roads Inn

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John was born in East Barkwith in 1794, marrying Mary Milner from Derby in East Barkwith on the 8th May 1823. They had a number of children including Ellen, Hannah and William. As early as 1842 John is listed in White's History, Gazetteer & Directory of Lincolnshire  as running a Beer House, and subsequently in the 1849 Post Office Directory and 1850 Slater's Directory as a Beer Retailer. The 1851 census shows John as a farmer with 12 acres but the following year he is listed in a poll book as being a publican, and in 1852 he appears in Kelly’s Directory again as proprietor of a Beer House. By 1861 his residence was called The Cross Roads Inn, presumably having gained a full license, and he then ran the inn until retiring (between 1861 and 1868), when the business passed to Charles Needley. The 1871 census records John and Mary living in East Torrington on their daughter Hannah’s farm.

Charles was born in Keelby near Grimsby in 1836, but by 1861 had married and the family were living in Middlesex where Charles worked as a saddler (his father’s trade). The family moved briefly to East Barkwith and in 1868 the Post Office Directory showed Charles running The Cross Roads Inn. The family moved again and by the time of the 1871 census, Charles was listed as a licensed victualler running the Green Man near Kingston on Hull with his wife Jane and their six children. 

Born in Apley in 1845, the son of John and Mary Dobson. John an agricultural labourer from Theddlethorpe and Mary from near Wragby, had seven children by the time they moved to live in East Barkwith around 1850. By the 1861 census, John was shown as a cottager with 8 acres of land and the couple had had another four children.  Henry, then sixteen years old, was still living at home with the family in East Barkwith.

The 1871 census has Henry listed as an Inn Keeper in East Barkwith with his wife Fanny (from Kingthorpe) and their nine month old daughter Ada. The next year, White’s History, Gazetteer & Directory of Lincolnshire has Henry running The Cross Roads Inn, where the family were living with another woman, Sarah Marshall, who is listed as a domestic servant. It can be presumed that Sarah either looked after Ada or else worked as a cook or bar maid in the inn.

By 1881, the family had left the Inn and were living in Willingham Road with Henry working as a coal dealer.

Robert, the son of William and Rebecca Brumby (nee Robinson), had been born in Market Rasen around 1813, while Hannah, some eight years younger, was from Fillingham. The 1841 census shows the couple living in Market Rasen with Robert’s father, William, who was a brick maker. At the time they had two young children, a daughter Rebecca (3 years old) and William (1 year old).

In 1851, the family were living in Waddington, where Robert was working as a journeyman brick maker. By 1861, Robert and Hannah were living in Navenby, where Robert was again recorded as a journeyman brick maker. The children, Rebecca and William were no longer living with them.

The 1871 census has Robert lodging in Grantham, still working as a brick maker.

The 1881 census shows The Cross Roads Inn being run by Robert and Hannah, who had their niece, Mary Ann Ingham,  and nephew Edward Parker, living with them at the inn.

Robert is recorded as having died not many years afterwards in 1886.

After Robert’s death the pub passed briefly to his son, William. William Brumby had been born in Market Rasen in 1839 and in 1881 was living in Wellingore, working as a cordwainer (shoemaker). 

The 1885 Kelly’s Directory shows William running The Cross Roads Inn, but this doesn’t seem to have lasted long as on the 15 March 1887 he married Sarah Anne Holmes in Wellingore, and the 1889 edition of Kelly’s Directory shows the pub being run by James Richardson.

By the time of the 1901 census William and Sarah Anne had returned to Wellingore.

James was born in Scamblesby around 1842, the son of Robert and Maria Richardson. In 1861 the census shows James living with his parents and his younger brother, Joseph, in Farforth-cum-Maidenwell near Louth, where his father worked as an engine driver and the two boys as agricultural labourers.

On the 15th October 1867 James married Jemima Alenson from Horncastle and by 1871 they were living in West Ashby, with James recorded as a gardener and domestic servant. They had a daughter called Joyce. Ten years later the family had moved to Horncastle and James was working as a florist.

In a temporary career change, Kelly’s Directory records James running The Cross Roads in 1889 and this is supported by the 1891 census which again shows him, his wife Jemima and their daughter Joyce at the pub.

By the time of the 1901 census, the family were no longer running the pub but still lived in East Barkwith, with James again working as a florist and nursery manager.

William was born around 1844 at Skillington near Grantham, the middle one of three sons born to John and Frances Jessop. By 1861 he was still living in Skillington, working on a farm as a carter.

In 1871 the census shows that William had moved on and was now working at Panton Hall, as a footman, domestic servant. At the time of the subsequent census in 1881, he was still working at Panton Hall but had moved up to be the butler. The next census in 1891, shows a dramatic change, with William no longer at Panton Hall, and instead lodging in East Barkwith and working as a coal merchant.

The 1896 edition of Kelly’s Directory has William running The Cross Roads, and this is maintained through the 1905, 1909 and 1913 editions. It appears that he continued his work as a coal dealer in parallel with running the pub. The pub still boasted a very large coal store room right up until around 1980, when the layout of the building and outhouses was significantly altered.

On the 11th January 1898 he married Emily Butler from Swineshead near Boston, in a ceremony held at East Barkwith. At the time he was 54 and she was almost 30 years younger at 25. In a twist of fate, Emily died only eleven years later in 1909 and was buried in East Barkwith on the 17th August. The 1911 census shows William as a widower, still running the pub and acting as a coal dealer. 

William died in East Barkwith at the age of 73, possibly while still running the pub, and was buried on the 28th August 1915.

William Bee was born in Heighington, in 1851, the son of Thomas and Margaret Bee. His father was a machine maker and William was set to follow his father into an engineering career. In 1861 the family were living at 38 St Hugh’s Street, Lincoln, having moved from Heighington, further into the city. 

At the time of the next census in 1871, William had left home and was lodging in Gainsborough at the Markham’s Buildings (yard), learning his trade as a mechanic. Gainsborough was famous for its ‘yards’, which were small tenement housing (or workshops sometimes) built behind existing properties. They would often be built in a row at right angles to the main road, and were usually served by a common pump and toilet/washhouse. Conditions were cramped, and sometimes unhealthy - the yards suffered greatly during the cholera outbreaks of the 19th century.

In 1879 he married Elizabeth Deadman from Chiddingly, in a ceremony at Hailsham in Sussex. By 1881, William was back in Lincoln working as an engine fitter and living at 10 Vine Street.

In 1891 the family were at 22 Croft Street in Lincoln, living with their two sons and two daughters, as well as a grandparent. Sadly by the time of the 1901 census, Elizabeth had died, and the family had moved again, this time to 125 Clayton Grove, Lincoln.

In 1911 William was still working as an engine fitter, in the agricultural engineering industry, and all four children were still living at home, even though they were all in their twenties by that time. The address this time was 58 Belmont Street in Lincoln.

At some stage after 1911 it appears that William Bee moved to East Barkwith. His youngest son, William John Bee, died at the Somme and is commemorated on the parish war memorial. The 1919 edition of Kelly’s Directory shows William Bee running The Cross Roads.

Harold was born in Benniworth on the 1st May 1897, the son of John Paul Parrish, a wheelwright, and his wife Lucy. Harold was the third of five children.

According to his service records, Harold was 5 foot 4 ¼ inches tall and served with the British Expeditionary Force in France during the First World War.

The Kelly’s Directories from 1926 and 1930 both show Harold running The Cross Roads Inn.

He died in the Lincoln area in 1974, aged 77.

Mr and Mrs Whitehead ran the pub between 1941/42 and 1954. Mr Whitehead was originally from Derby, but had moved to Wragby with his mother who was working in the area. He started working in East Barkwith for Doctor Denny as an odd-job boy, before later working at Godfrey Holmes Ltd in Wragby.

He met his future wife, who was originally from County Durham. The couple initially lived in West Barkwith, before moving to Torrington Lane, East Barkwith, and had three daughters, Janet, Jackie and ?. Mrs Whitehead worked at Goltho Hall. In 1941/42 the family took over The Cross Roads, with Mrs Whitehead running the pub during the day while Mr Whitehead continued working at Godfrey Holmes, the Mr Whitehead taking over in the evenings.

The pub was very different at that time, but benefited from running water (out of a tap), which the children had not had at home before, and proper outside toilets. The main entrance was near the kitchen window and beer was served at the ‘cellar’ doorway, straight from the barrel. What is now the car park was an orchard belonging to the Pemroses, but Mr Whitehead had a garden across the road by the chapel.

The family used to keep pigs, which were then killed outside the front of the pub when required, with help from the villagers. The pork was then hung in one of the sheds. There is a hole in the wall where horses used to be tied up.

Their daughter, Janet, now living in Lincoln visited the pub as recently as 2014.

The Hewitt family founded the Tower Brewery, Pasture Street, Grimsby, before 1808. By 1951, Hewitt Brothers Ltd owned 287 licensed properties mostly across Lincolnshire. The Cross Roads was bought and run by the brewery during the 1950s, although we don’t currently know exactly when they took it over.

A Mr Cannon had the pub for a time during the mid-1950s, but currently we don’t have any information regarding him or the exact years.

Norma and Eric Lidster bought the pub from the brewery and ran it as a free house. They significantly changed the layout of the pub, removing the previous external store rooms and out houses, along with the downstairs living area, so as to extend the bar area and bring the toilets inside.

The previous front entrance was bricked up and the present day front entrance and main bar room, stem from this time.

After leaving The Cross Roads the couple later ran The Queen’s Head at North Kelsey Moor.

Mike and Helen Alexander ran The Cross Roads for a short time, during the first half of the 1980s.

During the mid-1980s, the pub was run by Kevin and Linda Barker, who were from the Sheffield area. They extended the pub, building the pool room at the back, which was opened by the snooker player Joe Johnson (winner of the 1986 world snooker championship), who Kevin knew.

The pub was then taken over by Bill and Karen Taggart. Karen was Canadian and first introduced Mexican food at The Cross Roads, a cuisine which was to prove quite successful over the following years. The couple left suddenly in 1990, after which the pub was shut for a time. 

Michael and Yvonne ran The Cross Roads Inn from 1990 to 1997.

Michael was the third youngest of seven children born to his parents Rose and John, and grew up in the St Giles area of Lincoln.

Yvonne, from Reepham, was the youngest daughter of Tom and Dorothy. Her father was a baker and her mum a confectioner in Reepham. 

Michael and Yvonne first met at a dance and later won a jive competition together at Lincoln Drill Hall. Michael was an apprentice at Ruston & Hornsby and his future bride worked in the baby department at the Co-op in Silver Street. 

Before taking on the pub, Michael had had a far-ranging career as a freelance gas turbine engineer working in Russia, India, Nigeria, Libya, Costa Rica, the US Virgin Islands and Kuwait, among many other places. He had worked a lot in the Middle East and had been in Iran when the Shah of Iran fell.

Harvey and Alison took over the pub in November 1997 and ran it for 5 years, making it a very successful business. During this time the restaurant sold Mexican food. In December 2002 the couple moved on, selling the business as a successful ongoing concern.

Steve and Therese bought the pub in December 2002 and continued with the Mexican food, but within the year had sold the pub for a good price to the Provence Pub Company.

The Cross Roads Inn was bought in 2003 and owned for several years by the Provence Pub Company, which had a reputation for charging its tenants such high rents that few if any were able to run a viable business.

This ill-fated business model, resulted in many hard working tenants losing their money, often leading to pubs closing with no new tenants willing to take on the business at the rents being charged. It has been estimated that by the time Provence ceased trading towards the end of 2006, as many as 90 of its pubs had closed down.

Ron and Angela took on the pub with Provence having seen an advert in the Lincolnshire Echo, which at the time Angela wrote homes and gardens articles for.  Both had run their own enterprises in the past, Angela in her native South Africa where between 1997 and 1999, she had had a jazz club and small restaurant in Johannesburg, and Ron who had had his own meat supply business in the Market Rasen area, but latterly worked for a Lincoln butcher.

Originally from Louth, Ron came from a long line of chefs. Over the years the pub continued a good reputation for food, including the introduction of a Sunday carvery.

In 2004, they joined forces with Amir and Helal Hussain to create an Indian Restaurant ‘Poppadums’ at The Cross Roads. At that time the couple were also running another Provence pub, the Red Lion at Baumber. Eventually the high rents imposed by Provence proved too much and the couple called it quits, moving to run a restaurant business in Horncastle.

A young couple, Lee and Vicki took over the pub in November 2005 following several months during which the pub was closed. They tried to give the pub a more modern feel, compared to the traditional country pub it had previously been, a change that was met by mixed reactions from locals. During this time the pub organised a football team, with a pitch on the outskirts of the village in Torrington Lane, and had some success, winning their league one year. A family enterprise, Lee and Vicki were assisted at times by Lee’s brother Tony and Vicki’s dad, Colin, both of whom stayed on in the area following the pub’s sudden closure on the 26th July 2008.

The first Bateman’s tenants were Richard and Jo, who had previously worked in the pub trade in Lincoln, but The Cross Roads was their first try at running a pub themselves. They ran The Cross Roads for less than a year before deciding it wasn’t for them. 

Emma and Adrian were well known in the area, having previously run The Midge public house at Hatton. At the time of taking on The Cross Roads, they were also running The White Hart in Nettleton, and ran the two pubs for a number of months, before concentrating on The Cross Roads. They successfully ran the pub until 2013, at which time they decided to leave the trade. 

 At that stage the pub remained open but went through a period of temporary managers, the longest serving being Lizzy Davies, who ran the pub for a couple of months, while also looking after her young daughter. There was drama one night, when the fire brigade had to be called out due to a chimney fire, but no significant damage was done. 

In August 2018 the pub was taken on by a new tenant Debbie Reynolds, originally from the town of Corby in Northamptonshire, but subsequently having lived in Skegness. The tenancy was through a third party company, an arrangement that proved problematic. 

Having been a resident in the village for some years, Simon Young took on the tenancy with Batemans in February 2019. He has invested in carvery stations and the pub is gaining an enviable reputation for its excellent Sunday Carvery.