Oxford Ghost Signs: Oxford brewery signs
Some buildings that are no longer pubs still bear their original brewery signs, while other existing pubs have signs belonging to breweries that no longer exist. Here are a just few examples:
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Sign of the former Hall's Brewery on the Up in Arms pub
(formerly the Somerset House pub) at
241 Marston Road
(1) The brewery
Halls Oxford & West Brewery Company Limited no longer exists. The Swan Brewery (originally the Swan's Nest Brewery) was founded in Paradise Gardens, Oxford by 1646 and acquired by William Hall in 1795, and by Allsopp & Sons in 1926.
(2) The pub
The Somerset House pub opened in c.1880 but was rebuilt in the 1930s. It closed in 2016, and reopened as the Up in Arms (whose brewery is the Dodo Pub Company) |
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Sign of the former Morland Brewery on the Mad Hatter's Speakeasy Cocktail Bar
(formerly the Cricketer's Arms pub)
at 42 Iffley Road
(1) The brewery
Morland Brewery, founded by John Morland in 1711. was bought by Greene King in 2000 and no longer exists. The sign depicts the eighteenth-century English artist George Morland holding palette and brushes in one hand and a glass of ale in the other.
(2) The pub
This fine brewery sign
survives near the entrance of the former Cricketer's Arms pub. There is also an engraving of a cricketer, which can be seen here.
The pub was open by 1865, but was rebuilt by Morland Brewery in 1936., It closed in c.2014, and the building is now occupied by The Mad Hatter's Speakeasy Cocktail Bar
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Sign of the present Greene King Brewery on the Lemon Tree restaurant
(formerly the Duke of Edinburgh pub)
at 76 St Clement's Street
(1) The brewery
Greene King still exists, but their old-style sign beside the old side entrance to the pub in Cave Street no longer has any relevance to the building's current use. It shows a king in green clothing and the date 1799, when the brewery was founded:
(2) The pub
The former Duke of Edinburgh pub was open by the 1870s, and was named after Prince Albert, the second son of Queen Victoria, who was created Duke of Edinburgh in 1866.
The pub closed in 2014 and is now the Lemon Tree restaurant |
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The former Morrell's Brewery (Lion) Brewery
There is a list of former Morrell's pubs here, but none seems to have a surviving brewery sign. The Morrell's pubs were sold to Greene King in 2002.
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See also on the Brewery History Society website:
Oxfordshire: Defunct Brewery Livery and Oxfordshire Breweries
Oxford Drinker, 13 January 2025: “Down Memory Lane: “The Lost Pubs of Jericho” |
