Dandy Inn

In the middle of the nineteenth century, in Higher Lane there was, briefly it would appear, a small beerhouse known as the Dandy Inn. Higher Lane ran then as it does now from St Andrew Street to High Street (now rechristened Buckwell Street) and the Dandy Inn was one of a dozen or so properties lining the short cobbled street running parallel to Middle Lane.

Housing stables and home to a couple of cab proprietors it is possible that the name of the pub came from the then new term Dandy-cart, used to describe a kind of spring cart that was particularly popular with milkmen. Certainly it is less likely to refer to the term used in this country from the early nineteenth century to describe someone who dresses elegantly, fashionably and perhaps even foppishly.

Licensees

1857 - J Choake