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Some of our most popular articles at You and Yesterday are those concerning Derbyshire's public houses. One Derby pub labelled 'under threat' at the time of writing (January 2008) is the Royal Standard on Derwent Street. Here local historian Peter Seddon offers a potted retrospective.

The Royal Standard in 1983, its decorative front and Royal Standard signs in evidence

The Standard's cosy lounge in 1935, when the pub was run by George Baker and his wife Alice, the daughter of former landlord William Parnell

Trevor Harris and his son Paul outside the derelict Royal Standard after announcing their very serious intent to re-open it

Any boarded up building presents rather a sorry sight. But a boarded up public house has a particularly forlorn air - much more so than offices, for example - for one knows that as a place of leisure it was once the scene of happy times.

One Derby pub boarded up in January 2007 was the Royal Standard on the corner of Derwent Street and Exeter Place. It is close to the River Gardens and a short hop from the Exeter Arms, another hostelry featured on You and Yesterday.

'The Standard' commands quite a good pitch - close to all those thirsty workers from the Council House. But Derby City Council 'high-ups' choose not to facilitate their employees' extra-curricular drinking needs. They wanted the pub demolished.

The reason was that it 'interfered with' the major redevelopment plans for the Riverside area, more specifically the North Riverside Scheme covering Exeter Street, Exeter Place and Darwin Place.

Quite simply, a modest old pub with a colourful history did not fit with the scheme's generic mission statement:

'To bring an exciting and vibrant mix of apartments, offices and high-class hotels to the banks of the Derwent which the City of Derby and its people of all ages can be truly proud of'.

Naturally the scheme's developers Cityscape agreed with the City Council. Their Chief Executive John Cadwallader dismissed the pub at a stroke: 'Our view is that the building is not worthy of retention. It will be demolished.'

But at least one man didn't agree - the Derby brewer Trevor Harris, who had formerly turned the Brunswick Inn near the railway station into a veritable institution.

In the autumn of 2007 the freehold of the derelict Standard was put up for sale for £250,000 by its owners Marstons Brewery - an act which surely smacked of going through the motions. But Trevor Harris could not resist a punt - after his Derby Brewing Company made a successful bid he said: 'The Royal Standard is a fantastic place with a rich past and we are very pleased to have acquired it as our company's first pub'.

Pause for a collective 'ooo-err' from the City Council and Cityscape. It seemed the battle lines were drawn!

So what is the pub's history?

It was purpose built in the early 1860s and put up for sale 'new' in 1864. Although now standing in splendid isolation it was originally a corner building of a triangular wedge, the pub forming the rounded 'point' where two rows of cottages met. Not unlike The Brunswick in fact - as Trevor Harris probably noted.

The pub was originally tiny, but in the 1890s two of the cottages were incorporated into the building and it was extensively remodelled to fill the entire corner. The expansion was much needed, for after a successful spirit licence application was made in 1874 the business had flourished.

The name and its accompanying inn sign was a patriotic nod to the personal flag of the Sovereign known as the Royal Standard, always flown whenever and wherever the King or Queen is personally present. Although it has not been verified, it is said that on a visit to Derby, Queen Victoria herself drank in the lounge bar of the Royal Standard.

Among the early landlords were three generations of the Parnell family. In the first decade of the twentieth century the pub was run by William Parnell, who was the grandfather of the famous Grand Prix racing driver Reg Parnell (1911-64).

William was followed around 1920 by his daughter Alice, who in 1915 had married George R. Baker, for some reason universally known as 'The Old Scholar'. Alice Baker was a redoubtable landlady who co-founded the Derby Ladies' Licensed Victuallers Association at a time when the male-dominated LVA refused to accept women members.

Finally, when Alice and George moved to the White Horse in The Morledge, the Royal Standard was taken over by their daughter Doreen - by then Mrs. Len Hadfield - who was secretary of the Derby Ladies LVA in 1952.

A couple of quirks from its history:

In the 1930s when George and Alice Baker were mine hosts, they kept pet fish. The pub was then informally known as the 'Aquarium House', and it became something of a ritual at 8.30 each Sunday evening for customers to gather for the treat of seeing them fed.

Half a century later the incumbent landlord laid on exotic entertainment of a different kind - it would be around the 1970s or 1980s when The Standard's 'topless barmaids' were suddenly thrust upon the drinking men of Derby, presumably because business was flat.

All the obvious jokes were made about how the beer would be served - not in 'large pitchers' but something akin - and countless beer buffs gave The Standard a try 'purely out of curiosity', as this was a rare innovation for Derby.

Yet the 'pack 'em in' ruse was short-lived, since most of the customers scurried off to The Exeter after downing their first pint, unable to muster the rare combination of fortitude and feigned disinterest required to make a return visit to the bar.

Somehow it didn't seem 'quite right', all too incongruous, especially on a dark, dank night with the rain beating on the windows, and under the banner of the Sovereign too. Derwent Street wasn't Copocabana Beach - and never will be.

Thereafter the pub survived without ever really thriving, until finally the shutters went up at the start of 2007.

So what will it be? A pint of 'Parnell's Grand Prix' or 'Victoria's Tipple' brewed under the watchful eye of Trevor Harris? Or a 'state-of-the-art development that Derby can be proud of'?

Of course the two options should not be mutually exclusive. The Royal Standard lies on the fringe of the development area - so why not room for both?

Arguably because that would mean 'compromise' by both the developers and the City Council - a quality neither breed is particularly well-known for.

As of now it is a 'watch this space' scenario. Only time will tell whether the flag will ever fly again at the Royal Standard.

+++++ Some feedback comments have been posted as a result of this article. Read them by clicking on the 'discussion' link at the top of the page. +++++

Do you have a view on the future of the Royal Standard, or perhaps some memories of it? If so, you can enter your comments via the 'discussion' link at the top of the page, or click on 'edit' and start writing below.

• Derbyshire Pubs - Your Stories Wanted!
• The Royal Standard - Will The Derby Pub Fly The Flag Again?

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County:  Derbyshire

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