Sportsman’s Arms (Saltash Road)

The Sportsman’s Arms was originally described as standing in Stoke it was to be found on the side of the Keyham (Saltash Road), well to the north of Keyham Lake, but close enough to the waters of the Hamoaze to be visited by boat at high tide.

A small, slate-hung property that, when first built, stood surrounded by open fields and market gardens, the Sportsman’s later found itself inside the perimeter fence of the new, late-1880s, Royal Naval Barracks. Remarkably however the pub appears to have stayed open for a few more years, its eventual closure coming at the same time as work got under way on the extensions to the Keyham Steamyard (1895-1907) which resulted in extending the shoreline some way out into the Tamar, in front of the barracks. In 1897 it licence and its licensee – William Williams, moved to the newly-built Avondale Arms opposite the new northern entrance to Keyham Yard, at St Leven Gate.

Licensees

1850 - Thomas Hewett
1880-97 - William Williams