Hen and Chickens

In the middle of the nineteenth century ‘Hen and Chickens’ was the name given to a children’s game played with pewter pots: the small pots were the chickens and the larger pots were the hens. Given the timing of the game’s popularity and the pub’s brief period of existence, we might suppose that this was the reason for the pub’s name. By no means unique to Plymouth other Hen and Chickens around the country and around the world may take their name from the group of stars known by that term in the constellation Taurus. Alternatively there is the fact that the Hen and Chicken have long been symbolic in Christian art as a token of God’s providence. Captain Cook also christened a group of Pacific islands with this name in 1769.
The pub stood on the north eastern corner of the junction of King Street, Octagon Street and Anstis Street.

Licensees

1850 - Richard Smith
1862 - John R Smith
1865 - James C Ford