Chelmsford, Essex,
The Market House Pub [interior] circa 1908. This unprepossessing and badly damaged postcard may seem quite ordinary, but in my years of collecting postcards of pubs this is one of the handful that I have seen that show a real photo of a pub interior. Not a stylised advertising postcard pub interior, or one of the very common hotel bar interiors, this is a real rarity and shows an honest old-fashioned pub from over a hundred years ago. The Market House was at 1 Tindall Street, Chelmsford. Long since closed, this location is now home to a cocktail bar called '
Ancient Lights'. On a recent business trip to Chelmsford I snapped an early morning picture of Ancient Lights on my phone. I have no idea what it is like in the evening, but I suspect is is very different to the Market House pub of a hundred years ago.
Alas, we don't know precisely who the barman is. The pub at this time, 1908, was run by Thomas William Judge who had the pub from about 1898. The sender of the postcard identifies the barman as 'one of the sons' so it is likely to be Thomas W Judge (Jr), born 1877 or John A Judge, born 1879. The postcard was sent to a Mrs Evans in Kansas City, USA, in January 1909.
The strange white thing in the middle of the postcard is damage. Notice the fishtank and above that a model of a ship. I can't work out what are in the jars on the bar - snacks of some kind no doubt. There are eight handpumps on the bar, a good selection.
For more old photos why not visit the
Sepia Saturday blog.
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