the carlisle pub hastings

Terry has been busy making this excellent model of The Carlisle pub. More images on his Facebook page. He is now making models of The Marina Fountain, The Smugglers and more. 

Terry Huggins… Now don’t go getting over excited, this project has a fairly low priority and may never get completed, but I’ve made a start. I was gonna do the Marina Fountain, but decided the Carlisle would be easier. There’s nothing too difficult about this as I’m not planning to portray the whole pub, just half of it and I’m certainly not going to model the surroundings. Who knows, one day I might build the Marina Fountain and put it next door.

Alan Pepper… That looks great Terry !  Got a Lego biker by any chance ? Good luck with the Marina fountain !!

Jan Warren… That’s great, maybe park some bikes outside?! 

Terry Huggins… Gotta paint all these little people.

Leigh Wieland-Boys… Someone told me (an architectural engineer) that there was an unusual structural element in the Carlisle – does anyone know anything about it? The model looks great!

Terry Huggins… The Carlisle began life as a house on the shore, probably built in the late 1700s. In 1825 owner Richard Chandler the elder built a tavern next to and attached to his house and called it the Pelham Arms. In the late 1850s the original house was said to be in poor condition, although by this time the Pelham arms was described as an inn, so there were probably rooms to rent. The inn was at this time run by Richard Chandler’s son: Richard Chandler the younger.  At some point Pelham Street was renumbered and the Carlisle (originally 3-5 and later just No. 5) became No. 24 which is its current address. By 1873 the original house had been demolished and he land it stood on was occupied by a new extension. In 1892, the extension was extended and the pub was renamed the Carlisle Hotel, probably after the Carlisle Villas that stood behind the pub blocking its view of the sea (the front of the pub faces the Woolworths building). In 1899 the internal layout was altered to be more convenient. ~Further alterations were made in 1908 and in 1913 a new entrance was added for guests. In 1920 a new ground floor extension was built on the western side of the pub on the site of its former beer garden. This extension ran alongside Carlisle Villas and for the first time part of the pub directly faced the sea. If that extension was there today, it would stick out into the road. In those days there was no proper sea front road at that point. It was little more than a footpath. The extension didn’t last long. In 1930 a new road and sea wall was to be built and Carlisle Villas and the 1920 extension was in the way. Part of the Carlisle was compulsorily purchased for £2500 and the exchange of adjacent lands. The Carlisle Villas and the extension were demolished in 1931 and the Star Brewery, who owned the pub, extended the ground floor into its current shape. The two poles visible inside the pub held up the upper part of the building. By 1934 the function room had been added and a rooftop beer garden, but this was to become a problem due to customers spilling beer onto passers by and sometimes dropping glasses as well. The pub was altered again during 1938 to get rid of some internal walls and from then on it was more or less as we know it. It closed during the war and may have been used as a uniform store for troops billeted in the town, but there is no evidence that guns were ever placed on the roof. The pub was surrounded by taller buildings at the time so they would have had a very limited field of fire. They would also have torn the pub apart unless they were short range weapons and those were usually carried on the backs of trucks.  Unlike some of its neighbours and Pelham Street’s other pub, the Denmark Arms, the Carlisle survived the war although it did sustain some damage. As you can see, the building has been altered and messed about with many times, so there are likely to be some unusual features.

Leigh Wieland-Boys… I have a feeling it was something to do with the poles inside the pub that are still there. Thank you for info – very interesting! 

Terry Huggins… Yeah, the poles mark where the 1892 extension reached. They also pass through the function room and support the weight of the flat on the roof. One curiosity that you can only see from inside the pub is the remains of a diagonal doorway where a corner of the pub used to be until its 1930s rebuilding, when it was extended to the east. It’s adjacent to the old redundant dumb waiter.

Kev Towner… Fascinating – I never knew that.

Andy Qunta… Fabulous!