By Robson Hindley, Photography Lucy Shaw
BEVERLEY – Many who live in or visit Beverley will have travelled past The Durham Ox as it occupies a notable corner on Norwood; opposite Beverley High School, near the entrance to Tesco.
It features a Beer Garden, two sitting rooms and a prominent window to view the high-traffic area.
The interior is impressive, with a traditional feel and a wide drinks selection, including real ale. The two landladies who run the pub are incredibly friendly and welcoming, with drink prices that are good-value, and a cosy atmosphere.
The ceiling features calmly-lit fairylights and the walls are adorned with decorations and memories of many-a-good nights had in this little pub.
I lived in Beverley for 6 years before moving further East, but I always return to the Durham Ox whenever visiting as I have fond memories of this pub growing up, and what made it great has been kept intact.
However, anyone familiar with Beverley would tell you that this pub shut temporarily in 2019, before making a comeback.
Digging into this pub’s history a little further, has shown that it has a rich history, that it has fought to remain a public-house multiple times throughout its over 170 years of existence.
The beginnings of the Durham Ox lies in the middle of the Victorian Period, where interestingly, it appears that the Durham Ox was it’s original name from the very beginning.
The name comes from a bull that was bred in Darlington in the 19th century, and by the time of it’s second birthday, it weighed two tons. The pub’s creation would coincide only a few years before the official establishment of the nearby Cattle Market (now the parking area for Tesco) suggesting that there was a newfound steady stream of custom ripe for the taking.
The Durham Ox however was not the only one to think of this business venture, as there would be 3 other pubs to fight against : The Gate Inn, The Cattle Market Hotel and the Albany Hotel all within close proximity, competing for customers.
The nearby Tesco pays tribute to the Cattle Market that was established in 1866, and came to a conclusion in 2001.
It is difficult to put a precise date of when the Durham Ox was established as a public house but the first notable feature in local newspapers for the pub comes on the 6th October 1860 in the Beverley Guardian, when voting for a Guardian of the poor in the parish of St Nicholas broke out in scandal:
Godfrey Guthrie, a local gardener stated: ‘A man named Gibb came in before I had finished (voting. He wished to put the pen across it, and sign for Harrison, and go with him to the Durham Ox and he would give me a bottle of porter, but I would not. I would not alter the signature for ten bottles. I voted for Mr. Hodgson
What is now the Beer Garden features in an article 17 years later, on the 2nd June 1877, when the Beverley Guardian stated in an article on the landlord at the time: ‘The defendant it seemed was the occupier of a yard in which was a stable, and in the centre of the yard was an enclosed place in two which dung and refuse from the stable was deposited. In the stable were now kept eight cows.’
This would presumably be what is now the Beer Garden, which was always a yard when referring to previous OS maps of the area.
Image of the Durham Ox and the Gate Inn. Courtesy of “Paul Gibson’s Beverley Pubs”
The rest of the Victorian Period went smooth for the Durham Ox, however shortly after the turn of the 20th Century, the pub would fight for its survival on numerous occasions.
The first coming in 1909 when it was pited against the Gate Inn in the Beverley licensing sessions, where the Gate Inn appearingly came away with it’s tail between its legs.
The brewery who owned it, Moor and Robinson’s had to invest heavily into the pub, in order to try and yearn some customers away from the Durham Ox. Local newspapers would write about the incident: The Beverley and East Riding Recorder (3rd July 1909) stated: ‘The Trade had been taken away from the Gate to the other house in circumstances which he did not think it necessary to refer to.’ Mrs Hewson, owner of the pub at the time described the customers as ‘respectable working men’ in the same article.
The same site in the present day.
The final knockout blow against the Gate Inn would come in 1914, when the Beverley licensing sessions would make the two pubs provide evidence of their popularity.
The Durham Ox would initially seem on the rope when it’s building was referred to as ‘inconvenient’ at the session, but it emerged victorious when evidence of it’s popularity was provided, and the Gate inn was made redundant.
A testimony from two regulars of the pub were presented at the sessions: “Mr Geo. Simpson, carrier of Tickton, and Mr F. Watson, ironmonger, gave evidence to show that the house was well conducted and was required for the needs of the locality.” (Beverley & East Riding Recorder, 28 February 1914)
The Durham Ox has survived through to the present day, through two challenges to it’s existence, and an ending to the Cattle Market which brought a lot of trade for the pub. This is in direct contrast to the previously mentioned 3 other pubs.
The Gate Inn has already been discussed, but the Albany Hotel did not survive to see the 21st century either.
Nearby Cattle Market Hotel seemingly didn’t survive the loss of trade in the declining Cattle Market, changing it’s name to the Drovers Arms towards the end of its life before shutting down permanently in 1999.
The Cattle Market did not officially end until 2001, but it had long since passed its golden era. The Drovers Arms wouldn’t be demolished until 2006.
Not only had the Durham Ox survived out of the four pubs, but it still thrives in a world that would be totally unimaginable from its conception, the internet.
The current landladies of the Durham Ox have launched the victorian-aged Durham Ox into the technological era through their most successful medium of TikTok, creating humorous videos and pranks of their everyday running of the public-house.
Two of their most viral videos have acclaimed just shy of 500,000 views between them. It appears that the Durham Ox is still able to survive whatever challenge is thrown at it, whether that be a Cattle Market closing down in 2001, a licensing session decision in 1914, or rising costs that see over a pub a day close down in this country in the present day, the Durham Ox still finds a way to fight the odds.