62 High Street, The Rose Inn, Melbourn

History of 66 High Street

1901

James King, 55, innkeeper, b Melbourn

Rosa M, daughter, 26, barmaid, b Melbourn

Grace M, 16, barmaid, b Melbourn

Mary E, 14, b Melbourn

George, 10, b Melbourn

Jakerman Neville, ostler, 42, b Melbourn

1911

Ellis Gill, 36, innkeeper, b orwell

Agnes, 29, b Orwell

1939

Harry V Turner, b 1907, licensed victualler (ARP warden)

Cecilia W, b 1905

?

Hilda Cooper, b 1911, servant

James Doyle, b 1905, school master

John Cavine, b 1910, clerk of works and surveyor (Air Ministry of Works Southern Area)

Gwendoline Harle, b 1903, stenographer

Mary L Tolhurst, b 1910, stenographer

Victoria E Herbert, b 1913, stenographer

1940 – 1948

Charles Henry Bird

1948 – 1962

Marjorie Bird

1962 – 3

Flowers, the brewery, closed the pub

In 2024, Ron Bird sent us this note:

I lived at ‘The Rose Inn’; it was ‘The Rose Inn’ and not ‘The Rose’. I lived there on and off from 1949 when I was born until 1962/3[?] when Flowers, the brewery, closed the pub. It was run by my grandfather, Charles Henry Bird, from about 1940 until his death in 1948. The licence then passed to my grandmother Marjorie Bird who ran the pub with her sister Olive Turner until it was closed. My grandfather was a musician and during the war ran a little dance band from the pub with his younger son Neil John Bird on drums. They entertained the troops at the local airfields. Talking of which, I used to cycle to Bassingbourne to watch the huge USAF bombers take off in the 50s. I was brought up by the grandmother for some of my childhood as my mother was quite ill through the 1950s. She had TB but after an intensive operation she survived into her 80s.

By the way the pub was not on the sewer system and we had chamber pots in the bedroom, and a bucket in the outhouse!!

The following two videos depict events in Melbourn. The wedding is that of Neil John Bird and Ruby Alma Lawrance at All Saints church. Ruby may have lived at no. 60 High Street. The garden is that of the Rose Inn; the white haired lady in the pub is Marjorie Bird.

https://youtu.be/bX_TgiYEKHo

https://youtu.be/O1lQ7GyogTs