How many pubs were open in Wivenhoe during the last 300 years?

A team of people from the Wivenhoe History Group have spent the greater part of 2020 researching the 24 pubs and beerhouses which have existed in Wivenhoe during the last 300 years.

But how many of these establishment were open at any one time?  This graphic seeks to address this question.  Clearly the heyday of the pubs in Wivenhoe was during the late 1800s, from about 1870 to 1905,  when you could get a drink in any one of 21 different establishments.  That was the time of considerable expansion in the local population, encouraged by the opening of the railway here in 1863. By 1891 2,309 people were recorded as living here, many of course working in the two big shipyards and on the river. Not long after that time, the licensing authorities began to crackdown on drinking driven by the demands of the Temperance Movement, including the one which was active in Wivenhoe in early 1900s. The Licensing Acts of 1904 and 1910 gave more power to local magistrates and several pubs and beerhouses in Wivenhoe were, in consequence, forced to close. By 1910 the number of pubs had declined from 21 to 15.  By 1930, that number had fallen to only 11 and today, just 6 remain.

The details of all these pubs and beerhouses are available on this website and have been presented in the form of a trail that people can follow.  To see a list of these 24 pubs and to find details of the Wivenhoe Pub Trail click here

Links to other pages on this website:

• What’s the difference between a Pub and Beerhouse?
• All of the 24 pubs in the Wivenhoe Pub Trail