Gipsies Tent Inn, Dudley 2011

[MD]

After a visit the the Black country muesum myself and my good lady stopped off here...

The first member of the Millard family took on the license of the Jolly Collier pub and brewery in 1867. The name was changed to the Gypsy's Tent some time between 1871 and 1881. The original brewery was demolished and 'Millard's Little Model Brewery' was built about 1886. Mr. Harry Wright Millard became licensee on the death of his father in 1898. He retired as licensee in 1952, but still helped with the brewing.
The brewery ceased to operate about 1961, but the Gypsy's Tent Hotel & Restaurant continued on until about 1982.
The Black country living museum later had the bar fixtures and fittings.



the inn by M D Allen, on Flickr



the perfect crisp by M D Allen, on Flickr



beer mat by M D Allen, on Flickr


bear with beer by M D Allen, on Flickr



keys by M D Allen, on Flickr



living room 2 by M D Allen, on Flickr


bedroom by M D Allen, on Flickr

some more on my flickr

 

[Black Shuck]

Brilliant stuff there MD. I hope to be this way myself very soon!!

 

[MD]

NIce one give us a shout when your over

 

[skeleton key]

Thats nice MD
Shame the bar fixtures and fittings were gone
But better in the museum.
Cheers mate

SK

 

[Em_Ux]

A nice looking place.

Enjoyed your pictures...thanks

 

[Pincheck]

Nice shots,bit sad as the pub industry seam to be in decline at the moment

 

[twiggy123]

some great pics there nice one

 

[alex76]

As always nice work matt top shots

 

[govanne]

Gipsies tent inn dudley

Hi , What would you like to know about the "GIPSIES TENT" in Dudley ? My family owned it from 1867 and I was born there. I sold it in 2010 on the death of my uncle DONALD MILLARD who was determined to stay there for as long as he could. I have known about this site for quite a while but found it too distressing to see the pictures of the old place in a state of dereliction. However it is rather nice to know that there are people out there who treasure these old buildings and are doing their best to record them in some way. Don't be too upset by the look of the interior as I donated many of the fittings to the "Black Country Museum". Things like the bar fittings, doors, skirting boards, picture rails etc.The removal of these items did indeed spoil everything.
Quite a few myths are circulating about the "Millard" brothers .One is that they did not get on. They invented "spin" long before the present day and to compete with the huge number of pubs in Dudley way back ( there were three on the crossroads ) they needed a gimmick. SO, in front of their customers the did not speak to each other. They would be standing shoulder to shoulder and one would ask a customer " will you ask my brother to pass a glass " and the customer would pass on the message and a glass would be passed .Word got round and customers would call in to see for themselves what was going on ! Good for business or what. They kept this up for years but in private just talked normally. One Christmas they started a rumour that they could not afford to light the fire in the smoke room and if customers wanted to be warm they would have to bring in logs for the fire. This soon got round town and customers would turn up with logs just to see what sort of place this was ! -- again good for custom.
BERT and DON had a brother HARRY and a sister GLADYS ( my mother ) who is 92 now and we still look at old photos and talk over old times.
By the way the Millards were all tea total and on brew days Bert had to ask the customers it the "brew " was up to standard. Let me know if you want to know anything else.

 

[krela]

That's really interesting govanne, thank you for taking the time to share.

 

[Priority 7]

Cheers Govanne lovely bit of insight on the place, the family and the sneeky marketing ploys

 

[RichardH]

Thanks govanne. You've really added some colour to the report. Now I can see the dereliction of today, but in my mind's eye I can imagine how it looked in its prime.

For me, the attraction of dereliction is as much about the building as it is about the people who lived, worked, prayed and died there.

 

[govanne]

The gipsies tent

I have just remembered another " marketing " ploy which backfired in a very embarassing way. Bert thought that one Christmas it would be a good idea to have some fairy lights around the pub .The ones he found would not work so he put a pretty red light in the window above the pub.He never mentioned it to his brother and all evening Don couldn't understand why strange men ( not his regular customers ) kept on asking where the women were. It was some time before they realised that it was the "red light" that was luring them in. They stuck to tinsel after that !
When they closed the pub in 1980 they left the coinage in the wooden pull out drawer of the till untouched and it was still there when I wound up the estate 30 years later, they said it was a symbolic gesture to mark the end of an era.
In ww2 the family had all their beds moved down into the cellars .My mother remembers the night a bomb landed near Top Church. Don was a fire watcher and he ran back to the pub and went to the cellar window to shout to the family to make sure they were alright and to let them know that he was ok. You can still see the window at road level today .When the war ended their eldest brother Harry was in the airforce and on his return my grandmother and father decked the pub with flags. The customers would come in and shake the hand of the returning person. She also put the flags out when my dad came back from the army. I was quite touched for when rumageing in a cupboard in the bottom kitchen I came across a string of old moth eaten flags- I took them home with me.

 

[MD]

thank you govanne for taking the time to add more bits
i enjoyed taking the photos along with a bit of sadness
because of all the personal items left behind
hope you add more history
matt

 

[skeleton key]

MD ,What are the chances of that lol.
Uve explored govanne house

govanne love the imput there absalute quality

SK

 

[ArtfulDodger]

Great pictures and nice to hear the history behind the building!

Do you have any pictures you could share Govanne?