The Old Silk Mill: Auntie Jane ran the Old Silk Mill

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THE recent closure of the Old Silk Mill pub on Full Street, Derby, has prompted 90-year-old William Joynt to reveal his connection with the original pub back in the 1920s.

Mr Joynt, of Littleover, lived in the West End in those days. He said: “I was a schoolboy of about seven or eight. My mother’s auntie, my great aunt Jane Holmes, kept the Old Silk Mill.

“She had two sons – Bill and Jack Holmes. Jack was a chauffeur for a well-known doctor who lived at the top of Green Lane. He wore leather leggings like you see in the old films.

“There were two other pubs – the Dolphin, which is still there, and across the road, the Bull’s Head. Then there was a row of houses and the Old Silk Mill was situated on the bend.

“My grandmother used to send me down to the pub with a bag to visit Jane, her sister. She would fill up the bag with bits of cheese and cake for me to take home to grandmother. We were a big family and she was a bit better off than her, you see.

“When the old pub was demolished in 1924, they put a portable cabin on a bit of spare ground at the side to carry the license on, so they didn’t lose it while the new pub was being built.

“Inside there were little round tables and chairs and a makeshift bar to keep serving the beer. It was across the road from the old Electric Light Company.

“When he got older and Aunt Jane retired or passed away, Bill took over the pub. I never went in to have a drink until I was 18. A fellow called Mr Pierpoint took it over after Bill.”

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