Above postcard, circa 1900. Kindly supplied by Rory Kehoe.

Above postcard, circa 1900.

Above postcard, circa 1906, kindly supplied by Rory Kehoe.

Above photo, 1960s.

Above postcard, 1910.

Above photo, date unknown.

Above photo, circa 1950s, kindly sent by Linda Cox.

Above photo, 1961, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above postcard, circa 1963, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above photo, circa 2014.

From an email received 4 February 2025.

In the late 1950's (c 1959) Mr and Mrs Leslie Pafford took over the pub. Leslie had retired from a bank (Matin's if my memory serves) and his wife Kathleen was my grandmother.

She was a retired music hall performer and as a child had been a star before and during WW1 using the name Ena Dayne topping the bill round the country. During that time she appeared with all the top performers of the day like Marie Lloyd and Little Tich. After having my mother in 1922 she concentrated, with some success, on concert party work again often with well known artists of the day - Arthur Askey, Bob and Alf Pearson, Vera Lynn etc.

At the end of the war she wrote the melody for "Cruising down the River" which won a "write a song" contest on the BBC and became a world wide hit. For reasons I won't bore you with she never received any royalties but I attach a cover for the sheet music featuring her.

They ran the pub until the late 1960's when Leslie died after his ill health caught up with him (he had polio as a child and wore special shoes). Kathleen ran the pub on her own until 1973 but just as she was beginning to find it all too much the brewery started to cut back on smaller premises and decided to close it. Her brother Edward (my great uncle) bought it and the cottage next door (to the right as you look at it) which they also owned and he let Kathleen live there for the rest of her life and allowed the cottage's tenant to stay on at the same rent.

Kathleen was knocked down and killed just down the road from the old pub in Feb. 1977.

Immediately prior to 1961 the licensees of the Rose Inn were Jim and Betty McNaughton. They were Scots and he was a former army RSM and although of short stature(as was she) he was a seriously tough cookie. On their nights off they would drink in the Royal Oak and fortunately were there on the only occasion some rowdies got out of order. Jim had them under control and out of the door before you knew it. They were also friendly with Jack Fieldsend of the Military(which was a beer house) and who moved over the road to the Fleur de Lis when that shut. The three of them used to drink in each other's pubs and in the Royal Oak.

Best wishes,

Colin Charman.