Baltic Fleet

At the beginning of the 1850s James Brown was running a marine stores at No.6 Castle Street, he also had a neighbouring beerhouse the Fortune of War at No.3 Castle Street; at that time half of the properties in Castle Street were beerhouses so it would have been no surprise when No.6 became a beerhouse known as the ‘Baltic Fleet’ a year or two later.

Britain was then involved in the war in the Crimea where the Russian, Baltic, Fleet were encountered by our men, hence the name of the pub and with it the notion of attracting servicemen into the premises. It was a time when literally hundreds of new beerhouses were opened across the Three Towns, many of them, like the Baltic Fleet, destined to be very short-lived. By 1873 William Fortuna, a fishmonger, was operating out of the premises.

Licensees

1857 - Thomas Ellis
1864 - John Lee
1867 - John Mapower