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The Dean Tavern - A Gothenburg Experiment

Chapter 8

The Original Dean

The premises occupied by the Dean Tavern were numbered 1,2 and 3 Dean Park, three recently-built terraced houses. No 1 was the manager's house. Nos. 2 and 3 had been converted into a public house by the Lothian Coal Co. at a cost of £400 and furnishing it cost another £147. The Committee paid the normal rent for each house (7/- a week) and were charged 5% interest on the reconstruction costs until the final repayment was made to the Coal Co. directors in 1908, Mrs. Preston remembers, "It wis like an auld-fashioned shop wi' windaes either side. It wis richt auld-fashioned."

The public bar took up most of the ground floor. The bar counter was against one wall and the place was heated with a coal fire. The jug bar was at the side of the building and had its own door. Upstairs was temperance bar where tea, coffee and Bovril were served.

Licensing hours were from eight in the morning until ten at night. Weekends were always the busiest. The men at the pit worked an eleven day fortnight and were paid every second Friday. That was Pay Friday and that night and the following idle day, Pay Saturday, were exceptionally busy.

There were three full time staff - the manager, a barman and a pot boy - with an extra man on at weekends. Andrew Aikman, the manager, had previously worked at the pit but he had lost a leg in an accident and had retired with a pension from the Lothian Coal Co. He got £2 a week, a free house and free coal. Mr. Anderson had sole charge of the till and the clerk, Mr. Gilmour, checked the till at least once a day. Mr. Anderson bought a dog to guard the Dean and was allowed £1 a year for its food. He also had £5 a year towards the expence of hiring a pony.

The second man was paid 21/- a week, increasing gradually to 32/-, and the boy began at 8/- a week increasing to 16/-.

At the first meeting, on October 10th. 1899, the Committee decided to place orders for three grades of whisky from Andrew Usher, a fine quality whisky from Crabbies, bitter ale from Murray of Duddingston, sweet ale and stout from Mclvin of Edinburgh, aereated water from Woolleys of Dalkeith and wines, from Andrew Usher. From time to time, other breweries sought orders from the Dean and Mr. Callender (Lothian Coal Co. secretary) made it clear they they would only deal with firms buying coal from Newbattle Colliery. Small orders for bitter beer were placed with McEwans and McLennan and Urquart of Dalkeith in 1904. McEwans beer failed to please and the order was stopped and tit-for-tat, McEwans stopped their coal order.

There were many complaints relayed to the Committee through Mr. Pryde and Mr. Taylor, the workmen's representatives, about the quality of the beer in summertime. The beer was getting too warm and "going off' so a cold cellar was built in the back garden to remedy this. It was said that the Abbey Inn served a better pint and Mr. Hood compared a pint of their beer with a pint of the Dean's but his comments were not recorded. A request was made by the customers for Younger's beer instead of Murrays but nothing was done about it.

The Dean Committee closed the Tavern on certain public occasions and on New Year's Day. It was closed on the day of the funeral of Queen Victoria and also the on the coronation day of her son, King Edward VII, in i902. The village celebrated Coronation Day in the Public Park and the entertainment included the Lothian Brass Band and a cycle parade. The Committee decided to close the Dean on the Friday night before Coronation Day, "as the men might get drunk and not be fit for work on the Saturday."

More accomodation tor drinkers was created in the Dean early on by erecting a partition upstairs and halving the area of the temperance room. Drink was sent up on a hoist.

The public bar was draughty and difficult to heat and the Committee made several attempts to remedy this. The open fire was replaced first \Mth a stove in 1902 and then with a system of hot water pipes in 1906 and that seemed to be fairly satisfactory. The old bar was taken out that ^e.ir and a new horseshoe bar installed. A lot of money was spent in the first ten years of the Dean trying to improve the place but the premises were never really suitable for a public house.

The first complete financial year of the Dean's operation (1900-1901) showed a profit of £340, after paying the court case expenses of £151. The second year (1901-1902) the total income from the sale of drink was £3,070 and the profit was £407. Mr. Archibald Hood, chairman of the Lothian Coal Co., gave a glowing report on the Dean's progress to the thirteenth general meeting of the company on January 27th, 1902. He said that the directors "were considering the advisability of building a concert and lecture hall, recreation and reading rooms and library at Newbattle. A considerable sum of money would be required for this purpose but the directors believed the financial difficulty could be got over by borrowing the money and applying the profits of the Dean Tavern to the payment of the interest and gradual extinction of the debt. Some of the directors had expressed their willingness to advance money for such a good object on the security of the aforesaid profits. They hoped by providing such means of healthy recreation to form counter attractions to those of the public house. "(Dalkeith Advertiser: 25 September 1902)

Towards the end of 1902, however, sales of alcohol at the Dean Tavern fell and remained fairly poor for three or four years. No further mention was made of a hall until 1907. Various possible reasons for the falling trade were explored by the Committee. The Abbey Inn had a gramophone which was an attraction and some said Mr. Lumsden at the Abbey Inn served a better pint. There was also a bazaar on Mr. Roman's land and that was another attraction. But the main reason was undoubtedly the reduction in pay at the colliery. The daily minimum wage had come down from 8/- in 1900 to 5/9 in October 1902 and then to 5/6 in June 1903. The population of the village was growing rapidly but drink sales remained static. Wage rates remained low until 1907 when they rose to 7/6 a day. Sales at the Dean improved dramatically from £3,000 in 1905-1906 to £5,404 in 1908-1909. Profits more than doubled in those same years from £415 to £992.

It had always been the declared intention of the Lothian Coal Co. to provide a bowling green for Newtongrange from the profits of-the Dean and, in the summer of 1900, part of field on the north side of the railway line, near the Dean Oil Works, was obtained from the Marquis of Lothian. The worker's representatives on the Committee wanted the lease to be held by Trustees but the coal company directors decided that the lease should be in the names of the chairman (Mr. A. Hood), the general manager (Mr. J. Hood) and the company secretary (Mr. Callen-der) and their successors in office.

A greenkeeper, Mr. Rae, was appointed and he was to be given a free house, £1 a week during the season and employment in the pit during the winter. The first year's subscription was set as 5/- and Mr. Callender drafted a set of rules to be approved when there were enough members to hold a meeting. The rules included: no swearing; no gambling; no betting in the pavilion or on the green; and no sales of, or consumption of, alcohol.

The opening ceremony of the bowling green took place on the evening of 29th May 1902. The Lothian Brass Band assembled on the platform roof of the pavilion and played a selection of tunes for 150 invited guests prior to the opening. Hundreds of villagers, mostly men and children, gathered at the entrance to the green to watch the proceedings. Numerous speeches were made by the attending dignatories, including the local ministers, Mr. Carrick and Mr. Hardie, who had both opposed the Dean Tavern licensing application. Mr. Hardie was a total abstainer but Mr. Carrick was not. It is said his horse never passes the Justinless Inn and knew its own way home!

Archibald Hood, chairman of the Coal Co., declared the green open and played the first bowl. "The company were photographed," reported the Dalkeith Advertiser, "in front of the pavilion by Mr. Wallace, Dalkeith, and the Committee also had to face the camera. A liberal supply of refreshments (non-alcoholic) were handed round, and what with the band playing and the sun shining the afternoon passed away very enjoyably. The green was well filled with bowlers until dusk." Mr. Hood was presented with a silver jack on a stand as a memento of the occasion.

Most of the profits from the first few years of the Dean Tavern were set aside to pay for the bowling green and it was not until 1904 that the final payment was made. In May 1901, the brass band applied to the Dean for £80 to buy new instruments. The committee offered to contribute £30, Mr. Callender promised £25 on behali of the Lothian Coal Co. and the band was left to raise the other £25. At the same time, the Committee decided to improve the public park. It was levelled, a base of ashes and redd put down and six inches of topsoil applied. The park was supposed to be for the children but it was only five acres and also contained a cricket pitch. There were complaints that the park was "monopolised" by the cricketers and conversely that the children damaged the pitch. Newtongrange Star, the local junior football team, had their own pitch, Victoria Park, next to the public park.

The Dean Committee paid for a six foot high brick wall around the public park in 1904 and agreed to a seven foot high wall being built around Victoria Park. In fact, only two sides of the wall round the pitch were built at first, owing to a shortage of bricks. The massive housebuilding programme in the village at this time was the top priority. Between the park and the football pitch ran a path connecting Abbeyland arid Monkswood and this got the name Lover's Lane as the high walls created seclusion. Before building the wall the wooden cricket pavilion had to be temporarily removed but in the move it was damaged so the Dean built a new brick pavilion for the cricketers and laid a new pitch for them.

A miniature rifle club was formed in Newtongrange in 1908 and a shooting range, 90 feet long and 9 feet wide, was built alongside the cricket pavilion. "The range is equipped with automatic travelling wire targets, and the firing bench is so constructed as to permit of shooting iri the prone, kneeling or standing positions. The targets and firing benches are finely lit by means of the bland incandescent gas burners. The bullets strike on a steel plate at the rear of the range, and immediately drop into a box. It is computed that the cost of fitting and equipping the range will exceed £60 and the money will be furnished out of the profits of the local Gothenburg Public House." (Dalkeith Advertiser: 31st December 1908.) There was also to be an outdoor range at the old quarry at Masterton.

On the other side of the cricket pavilion from the rifle range a pigeon house was later built for the Homing Society so they could store their pigeon baskets. The Dean committee also provided a shed for storing quoits at Easthouses and a football pavilion, also at Easthouses, in 1911.

There had been complaints about whippets being trained on the road and on Newbattle Golf Course so the Dean made a track for them in Victoria Park. Whippet racing was a popular sport and races were regularly held in a field at Lingerwood Farm. There was a man who had a dog called 'Beer Or No Beer.' There was beer if it won - no beer if it lost. Thereafter, Newtongrange being a place prone to nicknames, they called the man 'Beer Or No Beer.'

In 1904, the Dean sold 29 gallons of brandy; 224 gallons of rum, gin and whisky; 332 barrels of bitter ales; 145 barrels of sweet ales and stouts; 2,656 dozen bottles of bottled ale; 708 dozen bottles of aereated waters; and 102 dozen bottles of wine. Whisky was very cheap in comparison to beer and a lot was drunk, some of it raw spirits as there were no laws about a minimum age for whisky. The government increased the tax on spirits in 1909 and this had an immediate affect on sales. The cheapest whisky sold at the Dean which had previously cost 1/3 a half bottle but was increased to 1/8. After seven months the committee discovered that they had miscalculated the effect of the tax and had been carving too much. The new price was 1/6.

The Committee was seeking other reasons for falling whisky sales at the Dean and were informed that Ballantyne's whisky van from Edinburgh was going round the village and doing good business. Some people thought that Ballantyne's whisky was better than the Dean's and Mr. Taylor was delegated to get a bottle to sample. He brought three bottles of Ballantyne's to the next meeting, priced at 2/6, 3/- and 3/6, according to grade. Mr. Pryde thought the 3/- whisky was the best. The committee then put a little of each whisky in a tin to see how well it would burn. The 3/6 whisky burned the best, but the 2/6 whisky wouldn't burn at all unless mixed with the others. The Dean's cheapest whisky was 3/- (6d. more than Ballantyne's cheapest) and their three other grades were sold at 3/-, 3/6 and 4/-. At the next Committee meeting the members sampled whisky from the Abbey Inn, Rosewell Public House, Ballantyne's cart and the Dean Tavern. The Dean's whisky was thought to be "not so good" as the others and no more was to be ordered trom Usher's until they brought it up to their usual standard.

The Committee rebuked the Dalkeith brewers, McLennan and Urquart, on one occasion. It was reported that the brewery was selling barrels of beer "direct to Poles" in the village. The Dean Committee instructed McLennan and Urquart to cease this practice and to only accept orders made directlv through the Dean.

Goths were deliberately designed to be austere places in order to discourage drinking, and entertainment of any kind was strictly forbidden. Dominoes were allowed in the Dean at first but they were soon banned as they could be "an inducement tor men to enter the public house." The Dean did not give their customers a. tree drink at New Year, which was the custom in other pubs. It was thought to be "against the spirit of the Dean." Some Committee members wanted to buy a gramophone for the Dean Tavern - the Abbey Inn had one and it was drawing away customers - but the Chief Constable was against the idea.

Though entertainment was forbidden inside the Dean, it was sometimes lively outside. Mrs. Preston remembers, when she was a little girl, seeing people dancing outside the Dean on Pay Fridays, "The band was there and a melodeon, tae. Young yins and auld yins - a' dancin'. Oh, they had a grand time!" This was about 1905. Entertainment of another kind could sometimes be seen OK a Saturday night. Boys would gather outside the Dean a little before closing time to see if there were going to be any fights. Jim Reid recalls "Ah've seen quite a few fights, but no' the dirt an muck they fight now. They just had a fair fight. No religion, Orangemen against Catholics, or the like. Ah had an uncle about six feet tall an' he felled a few in his time." Thing's could get out of hand, though. Two men were arrested in the park in 1914 whilst "engaged in a most savage fight surrounded by 100 spectators" (Dalkeith Advertiser). They were each fined 7/6 or five days in jail.

The 'Dean Corner' was the regular village meeting place and the Independent Labour Party met there on Tuesday evenings. It is certain that no hall belonging to the Lothian Coal Co. would have been made available to them. Sandy Gardmer, a popular figure in the village, was chairman. He had been quite friendly with Mungo Mackay. the pit manager, until he started up a branch of the Independent Labour Party in Newtongrange but Mr. MacKay fell out with him over that.

A regular and exciting event in the mining villages of the distnct was the arrival of the travelling gaff or theatre. In a temporary building of canvas and wood, popular plays were performed to enthusiastic audiences. In 1909 a Mr. Snape had put up his gaff behind the Abbey Inn on land belonging to Mr. Romans. Mr. Snape had been going around the Newtongrange shopkeepers seeking prizes for a poetry competition as publicity for his gaff. Word had to to Rev. Hardie, the Free Church minister, that the Dean Tavern, in association with the gaff, was giving away bottles of whisky for a poem written about the Dean. He wrote to the committee demanding an explanation. John Hood, the manager was sent for and explained that he had offered to give Mr. Snape 2/6 as a prize from his own pocket. He was instructed to withdraw his offer and that was that.

Rev. Hardie had been a firm opponent of the granting of the Dean licence in the first place. He had once before written to the committee as he had seen a drunk being ejected from the Dean as he passed one day. There were other problems with drunks. The man who was employed on Pay Fridays to keep out drunks was injured one night, having been attacked by a drunk. He was off his work for more than a week and the Dean paid him 35/6 to compensate for his lost wages. But that kind of incident doesn't seem to have been common.

Each year the Dean got a special licence to sell drink at the Easthouses Games. These were professional games with cash prizes for athletic events, cycle races, whippet racing, quoiting and five-a-side football. Crowds of two or three thousand attended these games. In 1908 the Dean's takings at the Easthouses Games were £53 - 5/- and the Committee gave a donation of £6 to the games committee plus an extra £1 for cleaning up the corks, broken glass, etc. left lying about on the field. The Newtongrange Games were on similar lines and were organised as a fundraising venture by the Brass Band Committee. The Easthouses Games continued until 1915 and were revived briefly in 1931 as amateur games. The Newtongrange Games finished up in 1914 and were never resumed after the war.

What with the rapidly increasing population of the village and relatively high wages, especially in 1907, business at the Dean flourished. The committee discussed an extension to the premises in May 1909 and Mr. Hood agreed to get plans drawn up. The following extract is from the minutes of 21st. September 1909. "The question of increased accommodation in connection with the Dean Tavern was taken into consideration and the chairman stated that Mr. Callender and he had considered this matter very carefully and had come to the conclusion that the present building, which had been altered before to meet the requirements of the increased population could not be satisfactorily altered again and that it would be better to erect an entirely new one. He proposed that a new building be put up immediately behind the present one and that when the new one was ready the present one should be taken down and the ground occupied by it made into an open space or shrubbery before the new building."

Plans for the new Dean had already been drawn up in anticipation of the committee's approval and the architect, Mr. Hardie, was present to explain them in detail. The plans were subsequently passed by the Licensing Board, estimates were sought and were laid before the committee in March 1910. The main contracts went to builders William Black (£937), joiners, Steven and Stoddart (£556) and plumbers, William Thorburn (£470).

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Cover - Contents - Foreword - Introduction - Appendices - Photographs & Illustrations

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