Old Ale Emporium Name Revealed

Comment by Sam R on April 18, 2011 at 16:06

I know this post is 2 years late!! but have just come across the photo of The Mortimer Arms and thought I would post as I worked in the Mortimer when it first opened.  Looking through my diary the Mortimer Arms opened in September 1986.  It was previously a car showroom.

Memory does'nt serve me that well (more interesting things to write in my diary) but all i know was that it served a damn fine pint of what I call Waddies 6 (Wadworth 6X) Being a Devizes born gal I was able to teach the lanlord a thing or two about looking after his pipes and therefore serving the best pint in Harringay.

Comment by GK/OD on April 20, 2011 at 22:58

I came to Haringey in November 1987 and it was the Mortimer Arms then

Comment by Gerry N on September 4, 2012 at 14:13

If you look closely at this revealed 1985 repro sign, you can see it is made of 3 boards joined together. A pre- 1900's craftsman would use one continuous length of timber, I am sure. Wetherspoon & Marlers at that time, always had a ( usually local) reason for a new pub name.  Why did they choose "The Mortimer Arms" ?  I went in this pub on its opening night & have long forgotten why.   

Comment by Gerry N on September 4, 2012 at 14:21

PS  Also if you look at the photo, you can see the structural beam above the sign. No Victorian builder would put the sign below it. It would be on the beam.  In other words, this sign, with its repro corner fascia, is far too low down ! 

Comment by matthew cuthbert on February 18, 2020 at 21:52

That sign still lives, now it says More Time, saved from the skip, like all the doors in my house

Comment by Vikram Dodd on September 11, 2020 at 0:08

this might add a bit..

https://pubwiki.co.uk/Middlesex/Hornsey/MortimerArms.shtml

Comment by Andrea on May 21, 2021 at 13:11

My great grandparents were running a pie and mash shop here around the 40s/50s. From what I understand there were previously three sections and were using the doors on Burgoyne Road. I don't have any pictures but from my mum's memory and some research it seems they were 405a, 405b and 405c. Below is the street directory from 1950.

 

Comment by Hugh on May 21, 2021 at 13:51

Thanks for that, Andrea. Here's a snippet from the 1952 OS map. I wonder if your great grandfather's shop was the one running across the back of 405's garden. If so, the front part of it would be where this shed is today. Or, perhaps it was the one alongside 405a and 405b was the address of the flat above the shop?

 

Rather oddly, none of numbers 401, 403 or 405 are listed. Despite what the OS map shows us (and I'd tend to go with that),  your Kelly's suggests that 405a and 405C are on the north side of Burgoyne. 

The 1948 directory does show occupants for 401 and 403 but still none for 405. It also suggests that 405A is on the north side of Burgoyne. 

The 1937 Version shows 405 occupied and two listings for 405A - both on the south side of Burgoyne. 

For a few years after 1912, there was a coffee house in what I suspect was your grandfather's premises. It was first run by a Mrs Susannah Carter and then by Jospeh Bennyworth. But that seems to have gone by 1920. 

Comment by Andrea on May 21, 2021 at 15:53

Thanks for the additional information! I had come across this map and shared with my Mum but she wasn't certain how it was exactly laid out from memory. I did also expect the numbers to fall between Umfreville and Burgoyne on the street directory but I think that's probably just a mistake. Looking on Google maps my mum was quite confident it was actually the final door on the pub. I found a somewhat modern picture of the pub among my late grandmother's possession which doesn't seem to go that far down the road but she had also said it was on Burgoyne Road not Green Lanes. I also found a bit of information relating to Wetherspoons on Companies House that references those numbers. 

Comment by Hugh on May 21, 2021 at 16:16

You can see further down in the street view link I provided in my last comment. Your mum's comments an Kelly's both imply that it was one of the two premises I suggested.

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