This pub was located at the bottom of Chapel Street (formerly Smithy Lane). Documents show that from at least 1766 this pub was called the Fighting Cocks, by 1807 it had adopted the Lower Bull’s Head name.

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Landlord Edwin Cotton was fined 10 shillings (and costs) in May 1867 for keeping the pub open during restricted hours on a Sunday.

 

In August 1885 landlord Arthur Wright applied for an occasional license to hold an Athletic and Pony Sports day on the ‘old grounds’ (Race Course field?). The license was granted and the day held on September 8th, the winner of the Pony race was William Prince’s “Little Wonder” taking home the first prize of £2.

 

This pub closed in 1909 on the grounds of redundancy, despite the licensing board acknowledging that it was a very well managed pub and it having no convictions for drink related problems connected with it for sometime, landlord Arthur Wright had held the license for 25 years.

 

A new license must have been granted after this, as in 1912 this pub was advertised to let by its owners the John Joules and Son brewery. The company still owned the pub at the time of it’s final closure in 1920, at which

time they were awarded £800 compensation.

 

The building was demolished in the 1980s when improvements were made to the road.

 

Past Proprietors:

 

Obadiah Keates (circa 1766-1807)
Thomas Hewett (circa 1807)
Job Carr (Parson and Bradshaw – Staffordshire Directory 1818 and Pigot & Co.’s National Directory 1828-29)
George Carr (White’s Directory of Staffordshire 1834)
Samuel Rushton (Pigot’s Directory of Staffordshire 1842 and White’s Directory of Staffordshire 1851)
Joseph Adams (Kelly’s Post Office Directory of Staffordshire 1860 and 1872)
Edwin Cotton (Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial & General Advertiser 1867, Post Office Directory 1868)
Henry Dye (Leek Times 1874)
Samuel Smith (Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1880)
Arthur Wright (Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1884, 1912)
George Robert Pyatt (Staffordshire Advertiser 1919) [Last Licensee]