Black Horse Public House

Black Horse Public House

The Black Horse public house was situated on the Sprowston Road, then known as Wroxham Road not far from the present junction with Wall Road but on the Mousehold Heath side of the road. The premises are first recorded as a public house when they were advertised for auction by a Mr P. Holman in 1839 who was also the registered licensee. In the early years it was a free house being supplied with beer by Steward and Patterson. After a period of ownership by a James Skipper the premises were acquired by Steward and Patterson Ltd in the late 1870s and maintained ownership the company was taken over by Watney Mann who closed the pub in 1970. Being not too far from the brewery in Pockthorpe even in the 60s deliveries were frequently done by horse drawn dray.

There were a couple of instances where licensing laws were broken and the licensees were taken to court. In the first instance Charles Bacon the licensee in 1863 was fined for supplying alcohol out of permitted hours and was fined five shillings +13 shillings costs. In 1909 Alfred Barnes was found guilty of promoting drunkenness the penalty being a fine of 10 shillings +8 shillings costs or 14 days detention. There seems to be no record of which choice Alfred Barnes made.

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  The Black Horse Fishing Club photographed outside the pub in the 1930s