Thomas’ Bars

It was known for fifty years or more as the Plymouth Inn, Fore Street, and as such the name pre-dated the change in name from Plymouth Dock to Devonport and so it’s quite easy to speculate on the reason for the change, however the alteration, which may have been structural as well as nominal, came about in the late-1860s when William Thomas became the proprietor of the establishment so the explanation may well have been a lot more simple than that.

It stood at No.25 Fore Street, on the south side, almost at the junction with Lambert Street Ope, on a site that is currently being redeveloped, having been just inside the Admiralty wall for the last fifty years or so. In 1939 it stood alongside National Provincial Bank and Underwoods, the tea dealers, were on the opposite corner.

Licensees

1812 - Richard Bartlett
1823 - J Markham
1830 - Elizabeth Fisher
1838 - Elizabeth Clements
1844 - Sampson Hoar
1852 - William Philp
1857 - William Sparks
1862 - Samuel Burns
1865 - William Thomas
1873 - M Tracey
1888 - Mrs Parker
1901 - Alfred Newcombe
1909 - H Stephen
1920 - Reginald Ellery
1935 - Reginald Harvey
1936 - Harry Stephen
1940 - William Patten