WHEN HISTORIC BRIGG PUB SERVED ITS LAST PINT

It will soon be 15 years since one of the most historic pubs in Brigg called time for the last time after serving its last pint.
The Brocklesby Ox, which also served lunches and snacks for many years, closed in 2007.
During Brigg Blog's launch month that October, we suggested: "Lots of Brigg people will be sad to see the Brocklesby Ox, on Bridge Street, boarded up and no longer welcoming drinkers and diners."
Having spotted a For Sale sign on the frontage, Brigg Blog took a picture just a few days "before the brewery pulled the plug."
Some locals who used this as their local hoped to see it reopen, especially as a prominent display board on the frontage declared it to be "a pub of character and distinction" as people passed by on foot or in vehicles along the A18.
Brigg Blog noted 15 years ago that the 'Brock Ox' had its own atmosphere and attracted regulars "who will now have to find new watering holes, or just drink a few cans at home instead."
It had a unique feature - a red postbox located inside the frontage where Bridge Street residents put their mail for collection and delivery.
However, economic factors contributed to the pub failing to reopen and it was demolished in 2010.
Attractive town houses (facing the A18) were eventually built on the site.
Well-known North Lincolnshire singer/pianist Vanessa appeared at many charity fundraising events hosted by the Brocklesby Ox over the years.
The pub was named after a massive Lincolnshire ox which weighed 464 stones and gained national recognition.
In 1790 the beast was painted by world famous artist George Stubbs, who had connections with Horkstow and also the Nelthorpe family (owners of much land and property in North Lincolnshire).
Ted Dodd wrote in his Brigg book in 1974: "It must have been Stubbs' painting of the Lincolnshire Ox that prompted one J. Barenger to produce a print of it in 1823, a copy of which still hangs on the wall at the Brocklesby Ox."
The Bridge Street hostelry was still owned by Hull Brewery Company Ltd in 1974, prompting Ted to describe the sign above the front door, featuring the ox, as "unusual and in some ways ungainly."
However, it had "interesting associations with Lincolnshire stockbreeding and with one of Britain's most famous artists."
Ted explained that the Bridge Street inn had, at one time, been owned by the Yarboroughs of Brocklesby Hall who still owned a sizeable block of property in that part of the town in the 1970s.