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Some of the most popular articles in the You and Yesterday archive concern Derbyshire's public houses. Here local historian Peter Seddon adds another to our 'Lost Derby Pubs' series - The unusually-named Lifeboat Inn.

The Lifeboat Inn

The Lifeboat public house was in Wilson Street, off Green Lane, Derby. When it was demolished in the 1980s many local drinkers considered it a great shame, for this unusually intimate hostelry was once Derby's smallest public house, and as such rather a curiosity.

It was allegedly founded in 1840, but did not appear in the records by name until 1895. It seated only twelve people comfortably, and in its later days these exclusive dozen perches were provided by some former Barton's Bus seats.

Since Derby is hardly noted for its seafaring folk, the name seems incongruous. Yet it is readily explained - from at least the 1860s the townsfolk had generously subscribed towards a lifeboat - usually one stationed on the east coast - and it was in honour of that long-standing gesture that the inn was named.

A number of quirky anecdotes are attached to the pub.

Legend has it that the comedian Tommy Cooper once walked in for a pint whilst looking for a fish and chip shop - he had been appearing at the Talk of the Midlands in Mill Street, so must have wandered fruitlessly in his supper quest for quite a way. Being somewhat off-the-wall, perhaps he thought a 'lifeboat' was as good a place as any to look for fish!

Creatures of a different kind could certainly be found in the pub, for in later years pigeons were kept there.

A little of the inn's history is known. It was for sale in 1881 and was for many years a simple beer house - indeed it was granted its full licence only in 1951.

The fifties and sixties would be its 'modern' heyday, but its trade drastically fell away in the seventies when much of the surrounding housing was demolished to make way for a proposed new road scheme.

Several pubs nearby suffered a demise at that time - the Marquess of Granby closed in 1978 and the Pelican a year later. The Lifeboat hung on, but not for long.

The last licensees were Gordon and Violet Vickerstaff, who received notice from the owners - Bass Brewery - that the pub would be closed in February 1980.

It caused something of a furore. When interviewed by the Derby Evening Telegraph Violet Vickerstaff told the paper: 'Two years ago this pub was packed but we are now lucky to get seven people in at a weekend. I took only £34 last Saturday'.

One has to wonder what she meant by 'packed' - had the 'twelve just men' in the bus seats been joined by a huge standing crowd? The phrase 'relatively speaking' comes to mind.

Her husband backed her up more acidly: 'Bass don't want to know. They are making all their pubs into managed houses, and at 54 they think I'm too old to be a manager'. How times change - 54 now is no 'age' at all!

Despite a dogged campaign to save it, the Lifeboat closed in April 1980 and was demolished in 1984 because it stood on the course of the proposed Inner Ring Road extension. The word 'proposed' is particularly pertinent, for as at March 2008 the vacant Lifeboat site remains untouched by any such road scheme - so the pub need never have been demolished after all!

Such can be the folly of Local Authority 'planning'. One day it had been a rare survival of the 'terraced house' style of pub - the next day the Lifeboat had been sunk without trace. As the 'passing trade' celebrity Tommy Cooper might have said - 'Just like that'!

Many people still living must remember the Lifeboat - if you have any reminiscences or anecdotes you can add them here. Just click 'edit' or 'discussion' and start writing.

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County:  Derbyshire

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