Currently known as ‘The Crate and Apple P.H.’
This reopened in its present guise on July 1, 2015, having previously been the ‘Vintage Pub and Bistro’, and before that it was No. 12, a restaurant. But for many years it was The Swan, at one time having a reputation as a ’biker pub’.
Its origins lie in a beer house of the 1850s. An early occupant was William Mant, who in 1861 was a brewer aged 34 employing one man and a boy. He continued into the 1870s.
The landlord of the early 1890s was Charles Aylmore, his son, also Charles, left to trade next door as a hairdresser. Thomas Squib was the publican in 1901. The Swan continued as a small beerhouse until 1936 when it was demolished by the owners Portsmouth and Brighton United Breweries of Southsea, who erected the present premises. The planning application was not allowed to contravene the Restriction of Ribbon Development Act of 1935, legislation intended to prevent long strips of new housing along main roads leading out of population centres. One required concession was that the new building had to be at least 20 feet behind the front wall of the existing premises – the space has since been taken by the patio forecourt. The plans of 14 January 1936 by architect Stavers Hessell Tiltman show that the Aylmore hairdressers next door also rebuilt and 179
incorporated into the new premises, behind the 20-foot ‘improvement line’. It had a door and window, which are now part of the pub. The now blocked up partner door originally gave access to a public bar; the existing door on the righthand side led to a Bottle and Jug, while its now also blocked up partner was the entrance to the saloon bar; a games room was situated at the rear of a central servery. The fascia strip advertised ‘United Ales and Stout’. The rebuilding was no doubt prompted by the landlady at the time, Mrs Sarah Lale, having been referred for compensation in 1935 because of the house being structurally unfit and earmarked by the justices for redundancy. Sarah had arrived with her husband in 1907 and continued to run the pub after his death in 1914 for a total of 43 years. She left in May 1947 and lived to be ninety-five. When she left, the pub was taken over by William C. Houlton.
Richard Brownfield 2025