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Details of pub: Ship and Castle, Aberystwyth

Other names: Flannery's
Address/Location: High Street / Vulcan Street corner SY23 1JQ
OS Grid Ref: SN5816281524
Opened: before 1830
Closed: open 2017 Type: Pub
Summary: Meeting place of the Ancient Britons Friendly Society, est Easter 1832 (PP)

Notes: 1823, 1825, 1826
licensee: Thomas Jones
St Michaels Vestry Rate lists, Ceredigion Archives, CPR/ASTM/123-128

1830
licensee: Thomas Jones
source: Pigot and Co, 1830

1849
William Griffiths, High Street. Retailer of Beer (might be the Ship and Castle).
Hunt and Co's Directory for Gloucester, Bristol and Welsh towns

1859
Ship and Castle, Margaret Griffiths, High Street.
Slaters Directory, 1859

1867
"TRANSFER OF LICENSE. The transfer of the Ship and Castle" license from the name of the late Margaret Griffiths to that of Richard Evans was made. " AO 2 Feb 1867
1871
Ship and Castle Inn, John Lewis, head, age 36, born in Llanbadarn, licensed victualler and unemployed blacksmith.
Census, 1871

1871
Ship and Castle, Vulcan Street, John Lewis.
Post Office Directory of Monmouthshire and South Wales 1871

1873
"Licence of the Ship and Castle transferred from John Lewis to William Rees Jones" CN 24 May 1873

1873
BANKRUPTCY: "John Jewis (not Lewis, as erroneously printed in last Gazette), innkeeper and blacksmith, Ship and Castle Inn, High street, Aberystwyth"
1874
William R. Jones
Worrall's Directory 1874

1880
Ship and Castle, William Jones, High Street.
Slater's Directory of North and South Wales 1880

1881
Ship and Castle
Mary Jones, head, widow, age 40, born in Llangwyryfon, publican.
Census, 1881

1891
Ship and Castle
John Roderick, head, age 48, born in Gwnnws, innkeeper.
Census, 1891

1895
Ship and Castle, John Roderick, 1 High Street.
Slater's Directory of North and Mid Wales, 1895

1895
Landlord: John Roderick
Kelly's Directory 1895

1900
12 y.o. boy served cider, and birched for theft. See att

1911
Ship and Castle Miss Roderick (3 persons listed in Census)
Census, 1911

1920
Landladies: Misses Jane and Mary Roderick.
Kelly's Directory 1920

1930s
Tommy Edwards (was a ships' carpenter)

1945 - 1954
Kept by Will Lewis (was a policeman in London).

1954 - 1959 (thanks to Ceri Jones for this information)
Evan Edgar Jones, licensee, miner from the Rhondda Valley
Miriam Jones, wife
Ceri Jones, son
Cissian Jones, daughter

1959-1974 (thanks to Ceri Jones for this information)
Miriam Jones, licensee

1986 – Basil Evans was landlord. Commissioned a mural of a ship on the back wall at the back of the pub. Painter Andy Asser designed the mural which shows a scene from the 1850s when Aberystwyth was a busy port. The ship is the Credo which was used to take migrants from Aberystwyth to America in the 1850s. Also printed T shirts with the Ship and Castle logo on them.

1988
Daryl Flannery gets licence

1997
Aberystwyth Civic Society criticises the new owners for changing the name from Ship and Castle to Flannery's.

1998
Flannery's Brewery located in the Pub at the back of the bar.

May 1998
First Aberystwyth Beer Festival held. Offering around 20 real ales, from a 3.7% brew to Plassey's Dragon's Breath of 6%.

Nov 1998
Licensee of Flannery's, Daryl Flannery, was fined £600 for selling under strength beer. The beer called 'No Eyed Deer Christmas Special' was 4.1% not 5.5% as advertised by the pub.

Nov 1998
Oatmeal Stout, brewed at the pub wins CAMRA Champion Beer of Wales.

1999
Won 'Ceredigion Pub of the Year 1999' for the first time.

Summer 2001
Pete and Dee Fraser became licensees. Changed the name back to the Ship and Castle.

April 2002
Voted by Ceredigion CAMRA members as 'Ceredigion Pub of the Year 2002'.

March 2004
Ceredigion CAMRA selected the Ship as its 'Pub of the Year 2004'.

April 2004
Pub closed down by police because the licensees Peter and Deirdre Fraser failed to renew their alcohol licence. The pub was not licensed to serve alcohol after the 4th of April. Pub put up for sale.

2006
Landlord Ian Blair of the Mill in Mill Street continued the real ale theme. Consistently been in 'The Good Beer Guide'.

2007 – CAMRA Ceredigion Pub of the year

Additional information

Oral story:

Memories of the Ship and Castle in the 1980s () Date: 2016 (approx)

Pub sign:

Pub sign, 2006

Date: