A Pint of History Please

Exploring the History of Ceredigion's Pubs

Details of pub: Talbot, Aberystwyth

Other names: Talbot's Head; Orangery; Wiff Waff; Medinas
Address/Location: Great Darkgate Street / Market Street, Aberystwyth SY23 1DL
OS Grid Ref: SN5827481656
Opened: before 1700      
Closed: NOT KNOWN       Type: Inn
Summary: This stood in Great Darkgate Street until 1830, when a new inn of the same name was built in the newly created Market Street. It was owned by the Powell family of Nanteos and was one of their most valuable properties in the town.
The first mail coaches left the town from here (1807-1830), and there are records that auctions of plots of land in Aberystwyth were held here between (at least) 1793 and 1820.
(Welsh Philatelic Society, Newsletter, 2003, No 93, p 17.)
In the early 2000s it was renamed the Orangery, and later became known as Wiff Waff, which closed in 2016, and reopened as 'Medina' later that year.

Notes: See the attached document for a detailed list of occupiers etc.

1782
The Aberystwyth Harbour Trust (established in 1780) normally met at the Gogerddan Arms or the Talbot.
7th Jan.1782, adjourned to house of Jacob Jones, known by the sign of the Talbot’s Head.
Minutes of the Harbour Trust, NLW ABR F1 (a), 1780-1808

1787
We were set down at the Talbot Inn, the mistress of which (the wife of Jacob Jones) is, I believe, too civil to be sincere. … twice I have danced at a ball at the Talbot. The first time, having no creature to go with, my mother was so kind as to accompany me. My partner was a clergyman, who would have been my partner for life, had I been so disposed. … Here we ate our boiled chicken, or a mutton chop, till it was found that we did not drink a sufficient quantity of wine with it, and a hint was given us of a private lodging.
(Letters from Catherine Hutton to her brother, 1787, in Hutton Beale, Catherine, Reminiscences of a gentlewoman of the last century; letters of Catherine Hutton, (1891), pp. 50-51)
1794
Copy of a lease of the Talbot's Head and the new building lately erected in the yard, and the stables and garden, and other properties and land in and around Aberystwyth, from Thomas Powell of Nanteos to Jacob Jones, for 21 years from 12th May 1794.
NLW Roberts and Evans, CM22/2

1805
Auction notice "...at the dwelling-house of Jacob Jones, innkeeper, known by the sign of the Talbot-inn, situate in the town of Aberystwyth" Cambrian 31 Aug 1805
1810
"Aberystwyth:At the Talbot-Inn may be found a boarding table, and strangers cannot fail being satisfied with the good accommodations, reasonable charges, urbanity, and attention of Jacob Jones." Cmn Jnl 9 June 1810
1811
Jacob Jones, Inn Keeper (Holden's Annual London and Country Directory, 3rd volume, 1811)
Auction at the 'Talbot's Head Inn' (Cmn Jnl 11 March 1811)
1816
Jacob Jones, Talbot Inn, Great Darkgate Street, (Aberystwyth Guide, 1816)
1822
Edward Evans, Talbot, Little Darkgate Street (Pigot’s directory, 1822)
1823, 1823, 1825
licensee: Edward Evans
St Michaels Vestry Rate lists, Ceredigion Archives, CPR/ASTM/123-128
1837
licensee: Edward Evans
St Michaels Vestry Rate lists, Ceredigion Archives, CPR/ASTM/123-128
1844
licensee: James Rees,
source: Pigot and Co., 1844
1858
Talbot Hotel, Cleaton, Thomas, hotel proprietor, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Morgan, T.O., New Guide to Aberystwyth and its Environs, (3rd Edition), p. 181, (1858), advert)
1864
Talbot Hotel, Cleaton, M., hotel proprietor, Aberystwyth, (Morgan, T.O., New Guide to Aberystwyth and its Environs, (4th edition), p. 152, (1864), advert)

1864
Advert shows Mrs Cleaton also ran a Vaults (off-licence?)

1869
The Talbot Hotel, in Market Street, managed by Mr J.R. Jones, is one of the oldest and best known hostels in the county. There are many living who remember when its court-yard was fitted up with galleries, onto which the bed-room doors opened like the Old Tabard Inn, now in High Street, Borough, from which the Canterbury Pilgrims started on their sacred pilgrimages. This is an exceeding comfortable house, and is a favourite resort of the county squires and farmers who visit the town on market days. It contains a Coffee and Smoke Rooms, besides numerous sites of apartments, and a public bar. To [this] hotel a well ordered Posting Establishment is attached.
(Morgan, T.O., (1869), New Guide to Aberystwyth and its Environs, p. 17)
1873
Auction Lot 133 Talbot Hotel under lease for 60 years from 12 May 1832. Tenant John R Jones Market Street.
Ceredigion Archives MUS/50/16
1874
Talbot Hotel, Jones, J.R., wine and spirit merchant & hotel proprietor, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Anon, Morgan's New Guide to Aberystwyth, adverts section, p. 29, (1874) ,
1875
Talbot Hotel, Jones, John Richard, Hotel and posting house, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Worrall’s Directory, 1875)
1897
During the rebuilding of the Corn Market Hall, the Market will be held at the spacious Auction Rooms of the Talbot Hotel, Market Street
Cambrian News 8.1.1897
1898
Gogerddan Arms and Lion Royal Hotel, Williams, Rufus, Hotel proprietor, late of the Talbot Hotel), (Gossiping Guide to Wales, p. adverts section, p. 4, (1898) photo ,
1900 (about)
Talbot, Richards, E., Hotellier, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Peeps at Picturesque Wales , p. 26, (1900 (about), advert)
1900
Talbot Hotel, Jones, E., Hotel proprietor, Aberystwyth, (Gossiping Guide to Wales, p. adverts section, p. 4, (1900), advert)
1905
Petty Sessions: Aberystwyth; number on list: 42; name of premises: Talbot Hotel; Parish / Place: Aberystwyth; Licensee: Jones, Elizabeth; owner or tenant : tenant; registered owner : Litchfield Brewery; free or tied: tied; tied to: Litchfield Brewery; type of licence: full; on or off licence: on; number of licenced days per week: 7. (1905 list)
1923
Talbot Hotel, Lowe, A.H., hotel proprietor, Great Darkgate Street, Aberystwyth, (Aberystwyth Corporation, Aberystwyth, the Biarritz of Wales, p. 9, (1923), advert)
1926
Talbot Hotel, Lowe, A.H., hotel proprietor, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Anon, (1926), Official Guide and Souvenir, p. a4, advert, photograph)
1935
Talbot Hotel, Anon, hotel manager, Market Street, Aberystwyth, under new management, (Anon, Official Guide and Souvenir, p. 87, (1935), advert, photograph) (interior)
1937?
Talbot Hotel, Anon, hotel manager, Market Street, Aberystwyth, under new management, re-decorated and re-furnished throughout, 18 bedrooms, (Anon, Official Guide and Souvenir, p. 80, (1937?), advert, photograph, interior)
1949
Talbot Hotel, Anon, hotel proprietor, Market Street, Aberystwyth, under new management, 18 bedrooms, (Anon, Aberystwyth, Official List , p. 11, (1940), advert, photograph)
1950s
Talbot Hotel, Anon, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.,, hotel manager, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Anon, (1950s), Official Guide, p. 38, (1950s), advert, photograph)
1956
Talbot, Anon, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.,, hotel propreitor, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Anon, Official Guide, p. 38, (1956), advert)
1958
Talbot Hotel, Anon, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.,, hotel proprietor, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Anon, (1958), Official Guide, p. 40, (1958), advert, photograph)
1959
Talbot Hotel, Anon, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.,, hotel manager, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Anon, Official Guide, p. 37, (1959), advert, photograph)
1960s
Talbot Hotel, Anon, Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries Ltd.,, hotel manager, Market Street, Aberystwyth, (Anon, Official Guide, p. 38, (1960s), advert, photographs (interior)
2006
"The Talbot's Head Inn, Aberystwyth" - Article by Anna Skarzynska about sources referring to the Talbot's Head Hotel in Aberystwyth including census returns, letters and printed sources.
Ceredigion Archives, ADX/786



Additional information


People associated with this establishment
Jones, John R [-]