Mirror tells its own story

THIS week’s Archive Corner picture was sent in by Guardian reader Sylvia Ward after she saw our recent photo of a Worksop Ales billboard advert in Sheffield.

Sylvia, of Worksop Road, Aston, and her husband Michael used to run pubs and were left this mirror when they took over The Tiger, formerly known as The Lords, in Gainsborough 36 years ago.

“We were left all the fixtures and fittings. It only cost us £3,000 for the tenancy and nowadays it would be more like £30,000,” said Sylvia.

When they moved they took the mirror with them and it has hung in all the pubs they have been in since, including The Blue Bell at Harthill.

When they left the pub trade the mirror ended up being stored in the garage where it stayed until Michael recently found it and cleaned it up.

Worksop Ales were produced by Worksop and Retford Brewery.

It was acquired by Tennant Brothers Ltd of Sheffield in 1959 when it had 192 pubs.

Worksop used to be well known for its malt houses, the biggest concentration being near to the canal where there were five.

The largest was the Clinton Malt-kilns, built in 1852, just off Carlton Road and close to the railway station so that it could be served easily by it.

It was so big it was more of a factory in size compared to the others.

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