The Brentor Inn, also an hotel, in its heyday about 1936. Notice the petrol pumps just past the verandah.
As we go by the Brentor Inn it’s nice to see the building getting a coat of paint. The new paint has covered the sign on the wall, so there’s little to remind us of the thriving pub that it used to be. The Inn has been closed for about twenty years, so it’s easy to forget what it was like to have a thriving public house in our community. Many of us in the village have never known the enjoyment of having a local pub, but these memories demonstrate the affection that its customers had for the Inn…….
New Year at the Brentor Inn, 1985
Do you have memories of the Brentor Inn? If you do, please send them for inclusion here.
Email them to editor@brentorpc.org.uk .
From Christopher Blackmore – 1950s memories:
Brentor Inn in the 1950s
In the years 1953 -56 we spent great holidays in Falmouth stopping on the way for B&B at the Inn. I was 12 years old … my Father drove a 1953 Hillman Minx …. my first real visit to a pub and I was entranced by the old beams, yellow smoke walls and the beer by Starkey Knight and Ford … I hasten to add that I was allowed a Babycham ! ! Although fond memories live on it is so sad to learn that the Inn has had to close. The landlord at this time and his wife was a Mr & Mrs R W Mattocks. That’s all really. With best wishes in your history research.
Tony Warren in Plymouth – a 1966 memory
I managed the Brentor Inn for a week during October 1966 when the landlord (Mr Taylor, I believe) was away on holiday in Blackpool. When he returned he told us that we had doubled the takings! This was because we knew some local farmers around Heathfield (The Stacy Family) and they all came to the pub on our last Saturday there.
From Francesca Bell – a 1968 memory:
At the Brentor Inn, about 1968
Francesca Bell has sent this photo and she writes: “Just having a lovely read of your Brentor Village page and thought you may like this photo. It’s at the then Brentor Inn the day of my younger brother’s christening about 1968. My dad in the background, Eric Doidge, farmer at Cross Trees Farm South Brentor, my Mum Celia (a Brentorian, I’ve memorabilia from then – original programmes and photographs), then there is my sister Beverley, my brother Ashley, myself Francesca and my grandmother Ethel May Scott (formerly of the Fox and Hounds).
Many a cherryade had on that day by the look of it!
Regards Francesca Bell (nee Doidge) “
From Leslie White of Heathfield – 1970s and 1980s
I remember going to the Brentor with my grandad Edgar Parnell. He used to ring the bells at the church. We would go on a Sunday for an hour. Us kids would stay in the veranda with a bottle of Coke while grandad was in the bar. Later, in ‘81 ‘82, me, my brother and dad played pool for the Brentor Inn when John Clarke owned it. We had good times there.
Brentor Inn about 1978, courtesy of Tony Dommett, who managed the Inn for a weekend at that time
The Brentor village archive contains photos of the Brentor Inn, such as these below.
Harvest Festival at the Brentor Inn, 1970
Brentor Inn, 1984, photo by Mike Whitfield
Brentor Inn, 1984
Poster advertising the sale of the Herring Arms, now known as the Brentor Inn, in 1838