The Royal Oak Inn

This building was an inn until its licence was terminated in 1899, sparking a legal battle that reached the High Court in London. 

​

The inn's licensees lived in the adjoining building, next to Britain's Smallest House, known as the Royal Oak Bach ('bach' meaning 'small'). Both properties were owned by Owen Williams of Berkshire until his death in 1832, when they passed to his eldest son, Thomas Peers Williams. One of the earliest known licensees was Jane Thomas, who died in January 1819.

​

In 1884, the Royal Oak Inn was advertised for sale as a well-established public house.

The inn's downfall began in 1899 when its landlord was fined for selling diluted whisky, resulting in the loss of its licence. The owners, Ind Coope & Co., later claimed that the whisky had been part of a consignment that had been tampered with during railway transport.

​

When the licence came up for renewal, local objectors argued that the inn was unnecessary because of its proximity to the Liverpool Arms and claimed it was frequented by 'drunken women.' Police Constable Jones described its customers as 'a low class of drinkers,' including poachers. The owner's solicitor defended the clientele as 'a poor but respectable class of people' who had 'as much right to obtain a glass of beer' as wealthier residents.

Ind Coope & Co. appealed first to the Quarter Sessions and then to the High Court.

 

In May 1900, the High Court ruled that the Quarter Sessions had been wrong and that the licence should be restored. However, four months later local magistrates, including Albert Wood of Bodlondeb, again refused to renew it. Temperance campaigners were preparing to take the case to the House of Lords, but the dispute ended when the tenant, William Evans, died later in 1900 and the licence was no longer pursued.

​

The building was subsequently renamed Royal Oak Cottage. By 1901 it was occupied by an insurance agent, his wife and their four children.

William and Mary Evans' son, Thomas Evans, served with the Royal Engineers during the First World War. He died in France from illness less than three weeks after the war ended, leaving a wife and young child living in Chapel Street.