Frome Times Past- Mother’s Day – birthday for ‘mother’ of The Lamb & Fountain

May the 5th was the 97th birthday of Freda Searle known to all as ‘Mother’ the landlady of the Lamb & Fountain pub in Castle Street, surely one of the oldest and least spoilt of Frome’s pubs. 

Originally recorded in the church rates for 1753 as “The Fountain” in Fountain Lane, its origins are thought to be much older and in 2005 a stone built chamber was found beneath the building possibly an ice-house pre-dating the existing structure by some years. 

Built into the hillside, the lower parts of the pub are no longer in use and consist of a warren of ancient passageways, blocked up doorways and sealed off tunnels with a large barn-like former malthouse adjoining, which is in the process of being renovated in the hope of holding events in the near future. Seating is slowly being assembled at the back to form a beer garden.

The lack of ‘Lamb’ in the original description may have been the churchwarden’s shorthand but from 1781 until 1799 it is referred to as the ‘Old Fountain.’ The Frome census of 1785 shows John Moon as proprietor & publican  with the place occupied by 2 men 7 women. By 1800 the pub is being referred to in the church rates as the “The Lamb & Fountain” with brewhouse & cellar attached. 

The Moon estate was auctioned off in 1877 when Francis Wilkins was innkeeper. He was described as ‘innkeeper, farmer & brewer’, he must have been busy. By 1881 he has 4 sons, one a solicitor’s clerk and remained until 1891 when Alfred Rossiter from the Queens Head in Whittox Lane bought the place with his brother for a sum in excess of £2,000.

Rossiter’s advertisement in the Somerset Standard for February 1890 is impressive with its promise to supply “Good Old Fashioned Beer” and to “supply families with beer in casks of any size” along with “Champagnes, Whiskies Ports, Sherries & Clarets” and a promise to “give customers the benefit of increased value as the concern was “absolutely free”.  He died in 1904 and the freehold was purchased from his estate by the Wilkins Brothers, brewers of Bradford on Avon for £2,550. They immediately advertised it to let and their advertisement describes a “home brewed house together with a three quarter brewery” This firm had become a major brewer in Bradford and surrounding area during the 19th century before being taken over and closed down by Ushers of Trowbridge in 1914. Early in 1916 Fussells of Rode bought the house with Percy Fussell himself as licensee and yet more changes occur as various other prospective licensees leave for military service. 

In September 1969 Harry and Freda Searle take over the tenancy from the new owners of Fussells, Bass Charringtons. Freda recalls in an interview with This Is Bristol in 2008, “The first Sunday we had one customer, and I cried and said we have lost our money. But then it got so busy I could not cope. It’s not like that now. I have lost nine out of ten customers with the ban on smoking. It has ruined pub games too. People go out for a fag when they are playing darts and they lose concentration.”

Mrs Searle continues, “We nearly had a birth in the passage once, and another time we had funeral party in this bar, all crying, and then a wedding party arrived without warning in the other bar and all started singing.

“Mother, started washing glasses at the age of 14 at the Red Lion in Somerton and when she and Harry took the pub on he was still working at Wallington & Weston while she was behind the bar. You have to be a psychiatrist, a doctor and a bouncer, listen to other people’s woes and always have a smile on your face”

Harry died, aged 56 in 1975 leaving Freda determined to carry on as landlady. She provided heart-warming meals such as faggots and peas, sausage and mash, and pickled her own eggs which stood in a jar on the bar, though the pub no longer serves hot food 

Freda beat cancer in 2008 and retired from active involvement in the pub and “mother’s” is now run by ‘daughter’ Sue and is still very much a pub of devoted regulars practically untouched since the 60s. There is a shove ha-penny slate, (with heat lamp), darts, a piano, table skittles and, if you really must, a fruit machine in the front bar along with a refreshingly small telly. 

It retains many rare features like the sliding off-sales hatch in the entrance corridor and the back bar which is supported many feet into the air by a set of rusty iron poles. The trip to the gents is a genuine test of local skill, down a flight of steep and treacherous steps – though in these gender-fluid times some have been known to forego that adventure and nip into the ladies, just off the pool room. Mother’s is renowned for its Riches Farmhouse Cider or Doom Bar if you fancy a beer, and there is always a comprehensive selection of crisps and nuts forming the perfect accompaniment. 

The 50th anniversary of the Searle dynasty falls on September 19th and Sue is organising a party to celebrate, further details can be obtained from 01373 463414

Mick Davis

David Lassman

• The Lamb & Fountain, along with all other Frome pubs past and present, is featured in “The Historic Inns of Frome” by Mick Davis & Valerie Pitt, obtainable from The Hunting Raven bookshop.