The Pub
Its name has been mucked about over the most recent decades but, to all Penistonians, it will always be referred to as 'The White Hart,' although currently named 'The New Inn.' The more they change it, the more people will continue to use the more reliable name.
The White Hart is the oldest public house in the area, originally built in 1377. It had some kind of connection with the Grammar School, which would have been near the church. A 1604 charity commission enquiry records that the croft of John Leadbeater of the White Hart paid 3d per annum to the schoolmaster. Mary Jackson was listed in an 1822 Penistone directory as victualler. Ann Hepplestone was listed as victualler in Baines' 1855 Directory. George Stones is listed in Kelly's 1881 WR Directory but his name also appears on the Rose and Crown list at some point.
It continued in a spit-and-sawdust style until the 1990s. After a short and unlamented period named 'The New Tavern', the late and colourful Frank 'Sam' Thacker took it over around 1991, renovated it and reverted it to its ancient name. As he originally lived upstairs, Sam would tell people about the resident ghost of a lady who used to walk about at any time of the day and cause floorboards to creak. If memory serves well, Sam had actually seen the lady more than once. Sam converted some old outhouses into new flats in the hope of attracting some passing Bed and Breakfast trade for local businesses but it did not catch on. After selling up, he continued to live in one of the flats until he died. After he died it was again refurbished in a bright, modern style and renamed the White Heart.
As of November 2019, with the loss of trade during the Covid pandemic it closed down and went into administration, leaving wedding and other bookings unfulfilled. During 2020 and 2021, a substantial amount of building work took place ready for a come-back, but renamed as 'New Inn' which is not well-liked as a name, given its long history. The name of 'White Hart' is very common in the UK. Its heraldic symbol is of Richard II who came to the throne in 1377 at nine years old. Often, a white hart (male deer or stag) is portrayed with a golden chain or collar around its neck from a legend reported by Aristotle that Diomedes consecrated a white hart to Diana and placed a gold collar around its neck.
The Pictures
The first two aerial photographs of the White Hart were kindly loaned to
me by the landlord, the late Frank 'Sam' Thacker. They are exactly forty years apart to the
day:
1962 and 2002. The White Hart has a history from 1377, spanning more than four hundred years - and it has
a ghost. In the old shot, we thought that the the white
car was a
Hillman Humber and the black one in the pub car park was a Rover.
In the more modern picture on the right, 'The Bridge' public house next door is closed and boarded up while it was being extensively refurbished. The pubs page shows them from ground level and you can read something of their history on the Old Inns page. A pelican road crossing and traffic lights have replaced the old zebra crossing but the red telephone box is still in place. Towards the end of the 2000s, the inner car parking area behind the gate was turned into a small garden centre.
The small top-left building is a fish and chip shop in both pictures. It was a wooden shack for a long time before it was rebuilt in brick a few years ago. In the old picture, the wooden shack next to the crossing was a bicycle shop, which was handy for the schoolies.
The view below is from 1973. It shows the old row of houses on Wentworth Road and again the derelict bicycle shop which is almost on to Penistone Bridge. Mr Taylor's blacksmiths shop is visible on the corner with Talbot Road. He died some time in the 1990s. He was easily annoyed by an old nickname which, in deference to his good name, I won't repeat it here. The last picture below is of a street gathering at a barbecue by the White Hart, date unknown.
Buildings on the Junction
Across the road from the White Hart and Bridge Inn is 'A Taste of India' but that corner was a lot different in the old days. There had been two other buildings to its right which were later demolished. One of those three buildings had been a bathroom shop for a while. If you look at this old picture, which also features on the White Hart history page, you can see those buildings and a zebra crossing.
On the Thurlstone Road side was a telephone box and even further back in history, one of the buildings on Thurlstone Road had been a boarding house. An overnight visitor staying there brought an epidemic with him from Barnsley. No 6 Thurlstone Road had at one time been Tyas's greengrocer shop.
In the picture, the curved building by the zebra crossing was a bicycle shop owned by the brother of Bridge End Garage around the corner. In the old 'wireless' days, it was common for people to take their accumulators to the shop for recharging. It is now the small car park for the 'Taste of India' take-away and restaurant. The old building was still there in the 1960s and the schoolies of that time will remember signs in the window about charging up batteries.
Before a proper mains supply had become standardised and commonplace, the early valve radios all used rechargeable lead-acid batteries to provide power to the radio valve filaments. These glass 2 volt cells were perhaps 4 inches tall and square in section. Radios also needed 90 volt 'dry' batteries for the HT supply and a separate 'Grid Bias' battery with various tapping points to plug into, for different voltages. A better mains supply did away with the need for those batteries.
David Sanderson contributes to the story about the old bike shop, on Penistone Archive's Facebook:
'The main house 56 Bridge Street was where Joseph Penn had his business as cycle manufacturer, repairer, watchmaker etc and was the home of Penistone Cycle Company, founded in 1885. My grandfather bought the business and family moved to Bridge End. Later developments meant the motor business moved across the bridge when the garage was built and the cycle business stay at 56. The rest is history as they say.'
