St George’s Inn

Although there have been a number of pubs in George Street, Devonport, over the years, few would appear to have been as short-lived or as much the endeavour of just one man, as the St George Inn.

Charles Job Penrose is the only licensee we can find record of and we know he was here for most of the 1860s at least, but by 1873 the premises was being run by a dairyman, Richard Palmer, although, curiously enough, Richard Palmer had been running a beerhouse nextdoor to the King’s Arms in the 1860s himself. Neither can we find any record of this George Street property being run as licensed premises at any point prior to the 1860s, thus we must deduce that the aforementioned Mr Penrose was, quite literally, the sole proprietor of the St George’s Inn. Moreover it seems likely that although named after the patron saint of this country rather than any king, the fact that it was in George Street seems to have been the deciding factor in the choice of name.