Renamed the Station Master in April 1976 by Courage Brewery as they claimed that its previous identity of the Station Hotel was in contravention of the Trade Discription Act as the public house did not offer accomodation.
At the end of the 19th century the licensed property was called the Maypole Inn. The Bristol to Bath Midland Railway crossed over the High Street nearby by a level crossing, and the pub became the Station Hotel.
When the Station Master closed an Indian Restaurant was housed in the old skittle alley. The pub was demolished in March 2016 and the site of the building now forms access to the suitably named Station Master Place. The old pub sign still remains in situ now bearing the name of the housing development.
Western Daily Press, 3rd April 1976: No train – it left ten years ago: (by Ian Lyness)
Mr Albert Hendy, was the natural choice when it came to celebrate the re-naming of the Station Hotel in Warmley, near Bristol yesterday. The name had to be changed under the Trade Descriptions Act, because it is a public house, not a hotel.
It is now the called the Station Master, which is the nickname earned by 66-year-old Mr Hendy when he worked for twelve years as a porter at Warmley railway station across the road. The station, on the now disused Bristol to Bath Midland line, closed ten years ago.
The Courage pub’s new sign swung in the wind for the first time yesterday, and Mr Hendy, of St. David’s Avenue, Warmley, was there to give it a blow his on his whistle and a wave of his flag.
Landlord Mr Jack Silverthorn, aged 44, whose father and grandfather ran the pub before him said last night: “Albert has been a regular here for many years, and we thought it would be nice to have him mark the occasion of our new sign.”
Courage spokesman Mr Bruce Lewis said: “Quite a number of our pubs in the Bristol area have had to change their names, and there are a few more that will have to do the same.”
Above: Inn Sign Society (courtesy of Matthew Sproston, archivist)
Above: Inn Sign Society (courtesy of Matthew Sproston, archivist)
Landlords include:
At the Maypole:
1862 James Fussell
1870 Joseph Rogers
1870 to 1871. J. M. Woolcock
1871 to 1886. Ann England
1887 to 1892. Thomas Taylor
Station Hotel
1893 – 96. Thomas Taylor
1900 – 01. Cecil Bright
1901 – 09. Charles Hardwell
1922 – 26. George Young
1927 to 1946. Robert Higgs
1947 to 1956. Ernest Silverthorn
1956 to 1980. Jack & Sylvia Silverthorn