The Big Drum

Bentley Hotel, Aka The Drum

The Story of Bentley Hotel

The large, imposing building of The Drum (formerly Bentley Hotel), has been a favourite watering hole for Bentley residents (and those further afield) for decades. Situated on Watch House Lane, in the West End of Bentley, this former hotel was demolished in 2014 and new commercial premises have replaced it. 

Here we look back at the history of The Drum and recall the memories of some of those who have called it home, and those who frequented its hospitality over the years. 

Contents

• Inns Of Bentley
• Land Acquisitions By The Brewery
• The Bentley Hotel
• Landlords
• The Greenwoods
• Arrival
• The Live-In Accommodation
• The Public House
• 'The Drum'
• Attics And Cellars
• The Garden
• War And Peace
• Departure
• A New Era
• Function Rooms And Clubs
• Music Clubs
• Other Clubs and Events
• The Gym
• Bruce Woodcock
• Bodybuilding:
• Brian Taylor
• Dayo Audi
• Demise Of The Big Drum
• Gone But Not Forgotten

Inns Of Bentley

Inns and public houses have always been at the centre of any village or town and Bentley is no exception. The earliest records of a public house in Bentley go back to at least 1831 when an inn by the name of The Grey Horse lay on the main road between Doncaster and Selby, just opposite the village green. Today, this is the present Chapel Street and Cooke Street and the inn is now called The Bay Horse. 

1827 Enclosure map showing the old route through Bentley

Following the 1827 Enclosure awards many roads were altered, and in Bentley this meant that an extension to High Street was built, making a direct route to Askern Road and Selby beyond. This cut out the old dog-leg route past The Grey Horse (see map above), which lost its prominent position on the main highway. Whether this affected trade or not isn't known, but as it is the only inn in Bentley to survive to present times is testament to its resilience.

The Bay Horse about 1910

As Bentley expanded in the 19th century, The Grey Horse was joined by other inns, firstly The Druids Arms in about 1841, and The Railway Hotel (latterly The Railway Tavern) in about 1861.

It is entirely possible that all these three hostelries existed long before they began to show up in records as many residences were apt to sell the excess beer they made, and beer houses sprang up in most villages. It was when these premises started to sell their ale in a more business-like way, and give the hostelries names, that they started to be identified in census and trade records etc.

As most of these early public houses began life as private residences, their buildings have been replaced over time with something more fitting for social gathering. Unfortunately there are no records to show what the original Grey Horse building looked like, but in the case of The Druids Arms there are some early photos of the original building (see below). 

Druids Arms original building

Another old photo of the original Druids Arms building

The photos above probably date from the 1890's and very much illustrate how residential buildings were utilized as inns. 

The old Druids Arms was demolished, probably at the turn of the century, and a new building, set a little further back from its neighbours, was put in its place.

The 'new' Druids Arms in 1910

The photo below clearly illustrates how the old building was replaced. The houses on the left, which can be seen in the second of the old pictures above, still exist, while the new Druids sits in its new position, slightly further back from the roadside. The photo below is of an Infirmary Demonstration, a kind of fund raiser for local hospitals, which was held in 1910.

The new Druids Arms building in its new position in 1910

Land Acquisitions By The Brewery

In the late 19th century Bentley was on the brink of expanding from a rural village into a township, and with a colliery soon to be at its centre, land for building was much sought after. Housing on Bentley Road was almost complete, and soon the area to the west would be filled with narrow streets of terraced houses which would be known as the West End of Bentley.

The map below shows south west Bentley in 1904. Residential building on Bentley Road (to the right) is still not complete and the area to the west remains undeveloped. Watch House Lane and Pipering Lane were little more than rutted farm tracks at that time. 

South west Bentley in 1904 with Bentley Road and the railway bridge on the right

Prior to development of the West End of Bentley parcels of land were being auctioned off to those with interests in property. The map below shows the area between Bentley Road and Watch House Lane had been acquired by Jenkinson and Burton, builders. Roads such as Broughton Avenue, Royston Avenue and West End Avenue would be developed here. 

Land ownership in Bentley's West End marked on a map of 1895.
Map courtesy of Carol Ann Ackroyd

  

Looking at the map above, to the west of Watch House Lane you can see another plot of land has been attributed to John Smith's Tadcaster Brewery. Part of this plot would become the site of the Bentley Hotel. The map actually dates from 1895, but has been later altered to show these land acquisitions.

On the 21st of October 1911 five plots of land came up for auction in Bentley, one was the land and buildings belonging to the Railway Inn (latterly The Railway Tavern) on Church Street, and a further four plots, all adjoining each other were in the position shown in pink on the above map, labelled with the brewery name. 

Advertisement of property and land auction.
Image courtesy of Lee Morling

 

The plots are illustrated in document images provided by the current owner of the old Railway Tavern, which is now a private residence.

Plots of land for sale in 1911. Lot 1 is the Railway Inn.
Image courtesy of Lee Morling

John Smith's brewery bought the Railway Inn, and going on the evidence from the altered 1895 map, it looks like they bought all four of the Watch House Lane plots too. 

The Bentley Hotel

Two years after the site was acquired by the brewery, The Bentley Hotel opened for business in October 1913. The architects who designed the hotel were Messrs Bromit & Thorman, while the contractors Messrs Mullins & Richardson of Doncaster carried out the building works. The outside walls were of green glazed bricks on the ground floor, with rough cast Derbyshire Spar above, on the upper floors.

The hotel and grounds covered an area of 13,200 square yards and the building cost about £9000 to build. Behind were gardens complete with two full size bowling greens. The map below shows the area the hotel covered in 1928. The land to the right which formed lots three and five on the auction documents are now allotments, which suggests the brewery sold these plots off, but kept lots two and four for the hotel and grounds. The hotel gardens backed on to Pipering Lane, making them very substantial indeed.

!928 map of Bentley Hotel grounds

The interior of the hotel contained a billiard room with two full sized billiard tables, a music room which could seat 300 and a commercial room. The interior walls were of Italian Terrazzo work, with the furnishing said to be on an 'elaborate style'. The building was heated with radiators and hot pipes, and it was lit partly with electric and partly with gas.

The hotel was fitted out with guest rooms on the first floor and accommodation for the landlord and his family situated mainly in the right side of the building.

From the first floor up was a central light well. Built to allow extra light into the cavernous building, it was open to the sky above a leaded roof over the ground floor below. Windows around the light well allowed light into the interior rooms of the upper floors. This light well could only be seen from above the building (unless you were inside the upper rooms), and this Google Earth capture from 2002 shows how it looked.

The light well at the centre of the hotel.
Google Earth image from 2002

Landlords

The first landlord employed by John Smith's to run the new Bentley Hotel was a Mr Ernest Wood Hutton, who remained in charge until about 1917. There then followed a succession of landlords (and landladies) who took on the tenancy over the years leading up to World War II and beyond. These can be traced via the electoral registers, and while it's not a comprehensive list, the following names have all served the Bentley Hotel, roughly between the dates given:

• 1913 - 1917 - Ernest Wood Hutton
• 1918 - 1925 - Arthur William and Jane Norman
• 1926 - 1928 - Harry and Annie Atkinson
• 1929 - 1932 - Herbert and Edith Strangeward
• 1933 - 1934 - Herbert and Mary Martin
• 1934 - 1935 - Henry Edward and Dorothy Bennett
• 1935 - 1936 - Clarence and Mary Needham
• 1936 - 1942 - Richard Henry and Mary Alice Drury
• 1942 - 1956 - Dorothy Greenwood
• 1956 - abt 1961 - Dennis John and Iris Walker
• abt 1962 - ? - James W and Alice J Clark
• 1975 - 1981 - John Alan Clarke.

The landlady we know most about is Dorothy Greenwood, who ran the Bentley Hotel from 1942 to 1956. Thanks to her daughter Janet Barker who wrote an autobiography of her time growing up in the hotel, we are given an insight into life inside the Bentley Hotel during and after the war years. 

The Greenwoods

In Parallel, a book by Janet Barker.
My own copy

I purchased my copy of In Parallel some years ago now and it was only when I started to put this article together that I decided to draw on Janet's memoirs and pass on some of the fascinating details she gives of the building during her time there. Not wanting to breach any copyright laws, the details given here are mostly of the building and are my own interpretation, with nothing copied directly from the book (details of where to obtain the book are given at the end). 

Arrival

The Greenwoods, Harry, his wife Dorothy and their eight year old daughter Janet, who were originally from Hull, moved into the Bentley Hotel in May 1942. Just three weeks later Harry died leaving his widow to take over the tenancy from her deceased husband. 

By 1942 the hotel was no longer a residential premises for guests, so with the help of a 'live in girl', Georgina Radcliffe, Dorothy ran it as a public house, mainly for the local community.

The Live-In Accommodation

Staff accommodation at the hotel was situated on the first floor, to the right hand side of the building. There were two long kitchens, one of which would have been used for providing hotel guests with meals. A long table in the centre of the room would have been where the guests ate their meals. Each kitchen had a huge black range and two ovens. The Greenwoods used just one of the kitchens as a combined kitchen and sitting room. Across the landing there was a residents lounge, unused in the Greenwoods time there.

The first floor also held the old hotel bedrooms, a corridor of numbered doors, some of which were now used by the family and Georgina. A large bathroom and separate toilet were also situated on this level. 

Watch House Lane with the Bentley Hotel on the right showing the windows of the living accommodation

The Public House

In the 1940's there were two bars on the ground floor, a men's tap room and a lounge. The tap room was where darts and dominoes were played and beer was a penny a pint cheaper than in the lounge. Hatches behind the bar were used for outside 'jug and bottle' sales. 

The lounge boasted a large hexagonal mahogany bar and mirror backed shelves. There were also round tables and tub chairs on the carpeted floor. 

A ladies' tap room was where the weekly meetings of the dubiously named 'Death and Dividing Club' were held. The members contributed cash to pay for funerals, Christmas and days out in the summer.

The billiards room was also on this level, as well as the music room, which was now called a concert room. The concert room had a stage with a painted backdrop and dressing rooms on either side.

A club room with a capacity of 400 was on the left side of the first floor; rarely used in the Greenwood's era, the room could only be reached by a metal staircase outside the building, which is visible on the photo at the top of this article.

'The Drum'

There are a couple of theories as to why the Bentley Hotel came to be nicknamed 'The Drum' by the locals, but it does seem as though this nickname goes back quite a long way. 

According to Dorothy Greenwood, she was told that the locals used to be entertained by a very popular drummer in the concert room, and that's where the name came from. Her daughter Janet often called it 'The Big Drum', probably due to its vast size.

Another story is that a brass band used to practise upstairs and all the locals could hear was the sound of the drums.

It wasn't until 1978 that the brewery eventually replaced the Bentley Hotel sign with one that said 'The Drum'.

A photo of The Drum with it's replaced signage from 2013.
Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

 

Attics And Cellars

The attics, despite being forbidden territory to the young Janet Greenwood proved too much of a temptation to explore when her male cousins visited. She describes creaking floorboards, peeling paint and several gloomy, spooky rooms. The rooms were dusty and unfurnished apart from some built in cupboards. There was also a built in food lift, which served each floor of the hotel, from attic to cellar. The young cousins used the lift, which was on a pulley rope system to send secret messages to each other. 

The cellars were accessed by a flight of steep stone steps, and it was here that the beer barrels were stored. An electric pump ran continuously to remove the several inches of flood water always present in the cellars, which was a consequence of mining subsidence. The cellar also housed the boiler room, complete with furnace to keep the hotel in hot water, and radiators heated.

The Garden

As mentioned earlier, the hotel's substantial grounds had once boasted two bowling greens, but by the time the Greenwoods took over the running, the bowling greens and most of the rest of the rear grounds were no more than an overgrown meadow. 

The photo below is taken from an aerial shot in 1953, and although small, Bentley Hotel and its substantial grounds can be seen in the centre.

Aerial photo of the Bentley Hotel in 1953

Traces of the garden's former grandeur could be seen in the old benches, now overgrown and rotting, that used to border the bowling greens. Trees, which had obviously been planted in a symmetric arrangement were still there, but now they were unkempt and neglected. 

At the Pipering Lane end of the garden stood an old stable with a loft above. In an adjoining yard a covered well could be found, before a gate led out onto Pipering Lane itself. 

Nearer to the hotel the family kept a small vegetable plot, but the rest of the garden was largely neglected.

In the 1950's John Smith's sold off the bottom end of the garden to a construction company, which can be seen on this map from about 1970:

The builder's yard at the back of the Drum in about 1970

 

War And Peace

It cannot have been easy for Dorothy Greenwood running a public house during war-time. Apart from the difficulties war brought, mostly in the form of shortages, which meant the premises had to close for a few days every time they ran out of stock, the very fact that she was a woman, single handedly in charge of a large public house, brought its own challenges. Constantly feeling the need to justify herself to the male bosses at the brewery made her job that much harder. However, Dorothy stuck to her guns and ran the pub to the satisfaction of the brewery, even if they did seem to constantly scrutinise her running costs.

During the war years Bentley Hotel was the base for the local Home Guard. They would meet in the billiards room on Monday evenings, and the back garden was used for their drilling. They erected a kind of rugby goal to practise hurling their dummy grenades, much to the amusement of Janet and her cousin who used to watch from an upstairs window. After the war the Home Guard held a Victory Dance in the concert hall where they presented Dorothy with a silver brooch as a sign of their regard.

Once Victory in Europe was declared a huge party was held in the club room of the hotel. Customers and local residents crowded up the outside stairs and into the usually deserted room. Thanks to Christine Pemberton, a photo of this party has survived and is pictured below:

End of War party at the Bentley Hotel in 1945.
Photo courtesy of Christine Pemberton

Another photo of the same party was taken in the back garden of the pub. Christine Pemberton kindly provided one copy of it, and Joanne Lloyd Clark sent in another. Joanne's version came in three parts and when joined together make a slightly clearer photo than Christine's, which was smaller.

The whole photo of the VE Day party.
Photo courtesy of Joanne Lloyd Clark

Here is each section of the above photo, which shows the detail to its best advantage:

Left side of the above photo.
Courtesy of Joanne Lloyd Clark

Centre section of photo.
I believe Dorothy Greenwood is stood to the left of the cake, in the apron.
Courtesy of Joanne Lloyd Clark

 

Right side of photo.
Courtesy of Joanne Lloyd Clark

I also include Christine Pemberton's version of this photo as it shows more of the rear of the pub than Joanne's.

VE Day Party. 
Photo courtesy of Christine Pemberton

Departure

In November 1956 Dorothy Greenwood left the Bentley Hotel, remarried and went to live in Wheatley Hills. Her daughter Janet was planning her own wedding too, so new horizons were beckoning them both. 

It was also time for a new era at the Bentley Hotel as the 1960's drew nearer.

A New Era

Other landlords came and went during the following years, The Walkers' taking over from Mrs Greenwood in 1956, and then the Clarks' in the early 1960's. Maurice Foster was landlord for a time, but by 1970 he was in charge of the Druids. Records of later landlords are not so easy to find, but no doubt they all left their mark in some way.

The main rooms of The Drum must have been refurbished and remodelled many times to keep up with current trends, and this undoubtedly extended to the many function rooms as they were brought back into use.

Function Rooms and Clubs  

During the years Dorothy Greenwood ran the Bentley Hotel, the function rooms lay largely unused, however, new incumbent managers saw the potential in putting these rooms to use in a variety of ways. 

There seems to be little documented officially about these clubs and gatherings, but memories collected from the Arksey & Bentley Bygone Years group on Facebook recall a number of social activities available to the locals, which we will look at here. 

From now on I refer to the building as The Drum, as by this time the nickname was firmly established.

Music Clubs

A Jazz club started up in the 1950's. This was held in the large club room upstairs, accessed via the metal stairs on the exterior of the building. 

In the 1960's regular Country and Western nights were held in the function room at the back of the pub. The stage area featured a painted mural which can be seen in the following photo from a private party in May 1969.

Country and Western mural on the stage area in 1969.
Photo courtesy of Peter Hartill

In the mid to late 1970's Northern Soul was very much on the scene, and The Drum was the place for Northern Soul in the Doncaster area, with regular gatherings on Friday and Sunday evenings.

Apart from these clubs, a regular disco was held in the back room and hosted by Ed Jones.  

Other Clubs And Events 

The Drum was very much the hub of the community in the sixties, seventies and eighties, with events such as dog and rabbit shows being held there. A training class for dogs was also run upstairs by a Mrs Fox in the sixties.

A karate club also existed in the eighties; and then there were the more usual pub pursuits of snooker and pool. As the premises had a room on the first floor containing two snooker tables, a snooker club was formed there.  

The Gym

Bruce Woodcock

Prior to Dorothy Greenwood leaving the Drum in 1956, a famous local boxer, Bruce Woodcock approached John Smith's brewery about opening a gym in one of the first floor rooms. According to the book In Parallel, agreement between them could not be reached and the gym idea was abandoned. However, evidence shows that Mr Woodcock did open his gym, the very same month Mrs Greenwood left! This image of an invitation card to the opening dates from 1956:

Bruce Woodcock's Gym invitation card from 1956.
Unknown source

 

As you can see a date in October has been crossed out, which may account for the difficulties getting permission from John Smith's.

Bruce Woodcock was born in Doncaster in 1921 and was brought up in Balby. He held the title of European Heavyweight Champion from 1946 to 1949, but was unsuccessful in the 1950 World Championship. He later became a boxing trainer and ran a pub in Edlington. Bruce Woodcock died in 1997 at the age of 76.

Signed photo of Bruce Woodcock to Frank Heath of Bentley.
Photo courtesy of Lynn Heath

 

Bodybuilding:

Brian Taylor

Apart from hosting a famous boxer, The Drum was also the base for two prominent bodybuilders. 

In late 1979 local man Brian Taylor took over the old boxing club from Pete McMahon and opened a health studio there in March 1980. 

Brian was successful in various competitions - his titles included Mr International, Mr Yorkshire, and Mr North East Britain. In 1976 Brian competed in the NABBA Mr Universe (amateur) contest in the United States, where he came 6th in his class. 

Brian Taylor
Photo courtesy of Kim O'Connor

Often described as a fitness 'fanatic', Brian tragically died at the age of 38. A mild heart attack in May 1980 was followed by a much bigger one on June the 30th that year, which proved to be fatal. Brian collapsed at his home in Broughton Avenue, Bentley. 

It was reported in the press that it was the strain of running his health studio coupled with training late into the night that led to his untimely death. However, according to his daughter, Tracey Taylor, the actual cause was 'hardened arteries'.

One such press story was this one covered by The Sun newspaper (below). The image is of quite low resolution and difficult to read, so please find a fully transcribed version on the Scrapbook page.

For the Scrapbook page go to Scrapbook.

Brian Taylor's death published in The Sun, 1980.
Image courtesy of Kim O'Connor

Many thanks to Kim O'Connor and Tracey Taylor.

Dayo Audi

Another professional bodybuilder to train at The Drum was Dayo Audi (Dayo Audifferen). Dayo was a competitor and trainer in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Turning professional in 1999, he holds titles in regional, national, European and World competitions.

In 2009 Dayo staged his first Strongman event at the Doncaster Dome called Raw Power Sunday. The event was England's Strongest Man and it was part of the World's Strongest Man Qualifying Tour.

No further information regarding his training at The Drum could be found, but he is remembered among some of the locals.

Demise Of The Big Drum

By the late 2000's the Drum's heydays were over. The financial crisis of 2008 saw the pub industry decimated as people with less disposable cash to spend stayed at home with their cheap supermarket beer instead.

Almost every pub in Bentley closed down, only the Bay Horse remains. The Druids Arms was converted into flats, The Railway Tavern is now a private residence, the Magnet, on Askern Road was demolished and new flats were built on the land.

By 2013 The Drum was vacant and up for sale. It was soon acquired by a construction company, and probably for reasons of the problems with subsidence, the decision was taken to demolish the pub and re-develop the site.

The Drum, acquired by Coen Construction in 2013.
Photo courtesy of Colin Hardisty

    

In late 2013 the building was starting to be picked apart. The roof tiles were the first to go as can be seen in these photos from Colin Hardisty:

In March 2014 the Drum was finally demolished. The following six photos were taken by Ian Barber during the demolishing process.

Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

Today a retail unit stands on the former site of The Drum, and the area has been renamed Railway Court. The image below is taken from Google Streetview.

Retail unit on the former Drum site.
Google Streetview

Gone But Not Forgotten

For one hundred years The Bentley Hotel, affectionately, then officially named 'The Drum', occupied a corner of Watch House Lane. Providing a place of entertainment, community events, business or just a place to escape the domesticity of home. The Drum is fondly remembered by all who knew it. Times may have moved on but memories remain, and hopefully this article will help keep those memories alive a little longer.

__________

The book In Parallel by Janet Baker can be obtained at Amazon.co.uk via the following link:

In Parallel, A Yorkshire Childhood

Alison Vainlo 2020