Second of the pubs we visited on a sunny Sunday was the Rampant Horse in Freethorpe. This has been a licensed premises since the 1830s and was once part of the Steward & Patteson empire before being taken over by Watney Mann. It then had some perhaps bad fortune by being taken over by Brent Walker, then Pubmaster and then by Punch Taverns, but I suspect that it’s now a free house once again.
The pub was advertised for sale in 1885 and the auction particulars mentioned that it had stables, yards, a covered skittle ground and a large club room. GP in the above Ordnance Survey map from the 1880s means guide post and it’s evident that there was more space available to the pub then. Today, they have only a small car park and those yards have long since been sold off.
There was one real ale available which was London Pride and that pump clip arrangement does look a little as though I’ve done it. The beer was £2.15 for a half, which was one of the cheapest of the day, although Roy paid £4.60 for a pint of the same beer so something was going wrong with the pricing.
I really loved this venue, it was a traditional country pub which didn’t feel formulaic or fake. The welcome was friendly, the surroundings were a little dark but it was all clean and comfortable. These are the kind of pubs that get refurbished and lose quite a lot of their charm, I liked this place just as it was.
I don’t have much else to add about the history, but I liked this newspaper article from July 1887 to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It is something of a different world today….
“The picturesque village of Freethorpe was full of life and rejoicing on Tuesday, the 21st inst., when in commemoration of the Queen’s Jubilee the working men, their wives, and children, were provided with feast and amusement by the farmers and other friends. At three o’clock all the men and boys employed on the farms of Mr. George England were provided with an excellent dinner at the Rampant Horse, together with a shilling, and an ounce of tobacco each, and their half-day’s pay. The labourers’ wives received a present of grocery, and in common with all the women of this parish and Wickhampton, were treated to a substantial tea at 4.30 p.m., in one of Mr. Gilbert’s barns. Mr. Wales had taken all his men and their wives for a day’s excursion to Yarmouth, where he kindly found them a good dinner and tea. Mr. H. C. B. Gilbert’s men had their treat with his other men at Bradestone on Thursday. The farmers of Wickhampton—Messrs. Kerry and J. Riches—provided a good dinner for their men at the Brickmakers’ Arms, when all the other men of the parish—excepting those who had “gone south” for haymaking, and who each had half-a-crown sent them—joined them through the kindness of Mr. J. W. Rose and the Rector. The children and young people generally met at two o’clock in the cricket field, kindly lent for the day, together with the barn adjoining, by Mr. Gilbert, a good tea at 5.30 p.m. affording an agreeable interval between the afternoon and evening sports. During the afternoon the Wickhampton boys beat the Freethorpe boys at cricket, and “Punch and Judy” and various games took up the time; whilst after tea a regular course of sports for prizes came on. Races, tugs of war, in which the boys and girls, men, and women, took part, afforded considerable fun. Hearty cheers were given for the Queen, Mr. England, the Rector, and other friends, and a pleasant day was brought to a close about 9.30 o’clock.”
The beer was well kept and in good order, so there might have only been a choice of one, but that was sufficient for me and it wasn’t from Greene King.
There was food being served and the smell from the kitchen was very appealing from whatever they were cooking. The prices were again reasonable and it was tempting to get something, but it was rather early and Jen had already acquired me a chicken bake from Greggs. There were a couple of tables in for Sunday lunch and although it wasn’t busy, it felt as if the pub had a decent atmosphere.
This is certainly a pub that must be a challenge to make work in the current economic climate, so I’m very impressed that they’ve got the venue open, it’s serving real ale and welcoming customers in. All really rather lovely and this was one of my favourite pubs of the day.