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Beccles Fleece
Beccles Fleece
also traded as Wool[e]y Pig Inn
North East, 52.45463,1.56683
Closed: some time between 2001 and 2007.
last owner/operator: Free House
56-58 Blyburgate, NR34 9TQ
grid reference TM 424 900
It's shown (though not named) on this old OS map from about 1903 (interactive map)
The present building is a 1930s rebuild of a much older Fleece. Though it was also used as a pub.
Planning applications in 1996 and 2001 refer to this pub as the Wool[e]y Pig Inn.
Owner/operator: JV Trading
1930s single bar town pub with much wood panelling. The current building replaced a much older inn, which stood at the rear until it was destroyed by fire.
Beer: Scott's Blues & Bloater; Whitbread Boddington's Bitter; Whitbread Flowers Original.CAMRA's 1997 Suffolk Real Ale Guide
Gallery
Historical interest
Pre-1930 historical information is assumed to refer to the earlier pub.
To be sold by auction at White Lion in Beccles: Lot 3, an undivided third part of a good sized brick and tiled house and tenement called Fleece in Blythbro Gate Street. with yard, garden and adjoining cottage in occupation of Alecock & Allen.Suffolk Chronicle, 17 May 1817
To be sold by auction Lot 2, that well accustomed freehold inn, called the Fleece, and the cottage thereto adjoining, in Blythburgate Street, in the occupation of Henry Alexander and Henry Sparham, possession will be given on 11 Oct 1845.Ipswich Journal, Mar 1845**
Landlords
Footnote
The fleece is a common reference to the wool trade that was very important in Suffolk, particularly in 17th & 18th cent. until cheap imports from the colonies undermined the trade.
(Most pub, location & historic details collated by Nigel, Tony or Keith - original sources are credited)
(** information from Stuart Ansell)
Old OS map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.