This is Sylvia Clark, who made a nostalgic visit to Brigg to watch progress on the demolition of the Brocklesby Ox pub in Bridge Street yesterday afternoon.
Now living in Moortown, she has more reason than anyone to be sad at the disappearance of the historic hostelry. For the bedroom she's pointing to in this picture was where she was born in December 1940.
Mother Nellie was the long-serving landlady, also helping to develop caravan use of land at the rear of the premises. (Brigg Town Football Club played there well into the 1950s before switching to Hawthorn Avenue).
Sylvia remembers many great times in the pub, including new year celebrations, and the local community in Bridge Street with its chapel, chippie, shops and 'Happy Land' across the road.
The Brock Ox is being felled, piece by piece, by Empringham Demolition, whose founder, Derek, is well-known in Brigg and district. He likes to salvage as much as he can from jobs so it's a fair bet some parts of the Ox will be recycled into other buildings with an historic feel, in due course.
Although not a listed building and not within Brigg Conservation Area, the Ox will be missed as a familiar feature of Bridge Street. It could never be described as the most attractive structure, but those of us who have enjoyed pints and meals there down the decades will still be sad to see it go when the site is finally cleared in the new few weeks.
However, the pub had been shut for some time and there's no holding back progress, with housing development planned in this area.
At the foot of this article we have included a picture of the Ox as it used to be, just for old time's sake. But we are sure it will live on in many people's memories in the years to come.
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4 comments:
Wot's gonna happen to the red post box?
The Brock Ox was formerly an old farm house.
It is assumed that its distinctive lean was the result of land drainage around Brigg and in the Ancholme Valley as a whole.
As the land dried out, the ground below the foundations would gradually shrink.
Those of us who can remember the blistering summer of '76 may also remember that houses with foundations, particularly on clay, started cracking as the beating heat of he Sun biscuit fired the clay!
Good point about the post box, Ken. Presumably it won't be resited but it's something the postal authorities ought to be quizzed about.
Hi all, I am one of the maloney twins who lived at the campsite aged 8. I have just found these photos and remember them well. I am now 64, and living in Torquay. I remember the knife sharpening man used to come round. We also lived in Broughton on the high street opposite the church. My mother owned a very large house just up from the shop which was on a slope, I would love to have photos of the place now, probably houses now..Roy Maloney
chiyembekezo@hotmail.com (Roy)
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