Quarrymen's Arms publican goes digging for names of old regulars

The past is coming to life at a pub in Corsham. John Arundell, landlord of The Quarryman's Arms on Box Hill, has started compiling the history of his pub in order to better understand the lives of those involved in making it a local hub for generations.

"The whole place had been stripped when I took over," says John, "it was derelict. A lot of information must have been lost. After we got it back to working order, I looked into the history of the owners, but found that the Licensee Register had gone missing as well, so I started researching myself."

After a little hard work, John had compiled a list of landlords going back as far as 1848, but that was not the only thing he turned up.

"We have all these great pictures, and now we're sorting out all the stories of the people in them as well," he says.

"The names are fantastic. Bill and Flossy Stevens ran the place from 1939 to the 50s, and we have lots of pictures from their era. One of their regulars was a big man called Strawberry Cousins, who was involved in all sorts – the darts, the pigeon and rabbit competitions, you name it. If a picture was taken, he was in it."

Like a freelance private eye, John started to see links in the stories he was uncovering that formed a larger part of the history.

"Another regular in the 40s was a man called Alfie Allen, who is in several pictures. In 1973, a man called John Allen took the place over. I'm sure the fact his dad drank here was something to do with that."

He also noted the way in which things had changed over the years: "When you look at these pictures, the people gathered round year after year, they never change. They were together their whole lives. If you took yearly pub photos now, there would be one or two who would last five years or so, but nothing like this."

So far everything John has found has been filed away, and he is unsure of what to do ultimately with the discoveries he is making.

"It's for me and the pub, and anyone who is interested can see it all. We have started getting help from locals as well, which is great. They have given us names and new pictures, it keeps coming."

He is also looking for other people who may have contributions to the story: "We have gone back to the 1800s, a long way, but there are still gaps. Absolutely any help would be much appreciated. Anyone who is interested, or thinks they may know something is welcome to contact me at any time."

To contact John, you can call him at The Quarryman's Arms at 01225 322281, or visit the pub on Box Hill, Corsham.