BRIGG PUB OF THE PAST REMEMBERED WITH AFFECTION

Here's a picture of the past showing a Brigg town centre pub that many people still remember with affection today.
The building is still standing but it's now a long time since it became a restaurant and some years since the place closed.
The Queens Arms, on Wrawby Street, dated back to Victoria's reign in the 19th century.
During the 20th there were a number of long-serving mine hosts including George Jobson, Jim and Jean Cunningham, and Bob and Sue Nicholson.
Bob and Sue took over around 1986/7, running it as a pub, developing meals, installing a micro-brewery and eventually converting it into the specialist Fish Inn Restaurant.
It had been renamed, and Bob and Sue had moved on, by the time the 'closed' signs appeared.
When this picture was taken in the 1970s, The Queens had three distinct rooms - bar, smoke and lounge - with a bar in the centre.
It was directly across the road from the old police station and courthouse, and it was possible for someone to be arrested for 'drunk and disorderly' overnight, taken before the magistrates' bench the following morning, take a fine as punishment and be in the Queens by opening time!
Space was very much at a premium in the 1980s, given the pub's popularity, and so it went open plan.
The Queens was one of the town hostelries that took advantage of a special local licensing concession granted on Thursdays.
Bars were allowed to stay open until 4pm so townsfolk, and people visiting from nearby villages, could refresh themselves after shopping at market stalls.
The stockmarket, off Cary Lane, was still operating at this time, attracting farmers from a wide area.
Licensing laws in those days were much more restrictive than they are today, and this was quite a concession.
Scores of people took advantage of these added hours, and some of us well remember, in the 1980s and 1990s, being well watered by 4pm on Thursdays!
For those involved with local football, hockey and cricket, there were many great nights at the Queens in the final quarter of the 20th century.
The pub also fielded teams in the local darts, cribbage and domino leagues.
Although this 1970s picture features the name of major pub chain Bass Charrington, the Queens later became a free house - not tied to any brewery.
Queen Victoria may not have been amused to see a pub that was named in her honour disappear from the scene.
However, Brigg still remembers her Royal Family through Albert Street and Princes Street. Sadly, neither boasts licensed premises today.