Hotel linked the past with the present
SPROTBROUGH'S Ivanhoe Hotel opens:
GERMAN bombers were still targeting England when The Ivanhoe Hotel opened in Sprotbrough.
The pub pulled pints for the first time on Saturday December 7, 1940, and two days before the event the Doncaster Gazette stated The Ivanhoe Hotel links up the past with the very definite present.
"It immediately brings to mind what are generally considered the spacious days when Sprotbrough, nestling by the lazy running Don in one of the prettiest regions of the Doncaster district, was the haunt of the artist and where Sir Walter Scott sought retreat in which to write his immortal 'Ivanhoe', the story of Conisbrough, its castle and its environs," the paper mused.
It was also claimed The Ivanhoe Hotel brought credit on its sponsors, its architects and its builders. Standing well back off the main High Melton Road at the junction of Thorpe Lane and Cusworth Road, it was fashioned in keeping with the rustic beauty of the village.
It was erected on the top side of the old cricket ground and old inhabitants welcomed the fact it did not in any way interfere with the old established club, though the actual site was part and parcel of the hotel premises.
With a spacious car park running all around, the hotel was built of brick with a half timbered facing.
Owners Sam Smiths Ltd fashioned the hotel on the most up-to-date lines. A feature of the decorative design of the interior was the obvious desire to perpetuate its well-chosen name, for the walls of the entrance hall and the lounge were decorated with excellently conceived paintings of noteworthy 'Ivanhoe' incidents.
The first licensee was J Lumb who, for the previous 11 years, had been the popular host of The Vine Hotel, Balby, and who would be remembered as a former West Riding police inspector at Adwick-le-Street and Normanton.
Brodsworth tram route:
DONCASTER Corporation splashed out on miles of tram routes in the early years of the 20th century.
The authority opened tram routes to Balby, Hexthorpe, Hyde Park, the racecourse and Bentley in 1902, and the Becket Road and Oxford Street routes opened in 1903.
Additions to the tram network in the war years included the extension of the Balby route to Warmsworth in 1915 and the introduction of a Brodsworth route in 1916.
The Brodsworth route was double tracked as far as the Mill Bridge with single track and passing loops beyond. On leaving the Grey Friars Road depot, the Brodsworth trams travelled to French Gate where the crew, before beginning the journey to Brodsworth, turned the trolley round and altered the track points.
Towards the end of tram operations on the Brodsworth route the track had fallen into disrepair.
At some points the trams could not even utilize the 'passing loops'. To help alleviate this problem the tram crews were issued with 'jumping irons'.
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Buy The Star - Monday to Saturday - for local news, sport, features and ads. To subscribe CLICK HERE These were short strips of metal that were placed on the track by either the conductor or driver to ensure the tram wheels were guided in the right direction when travelling over or using a ‘passing loop’.
The last tram to run in Doncaster was on the Brodsworth route on June 8, 1935.
All Doncaster’s tram routes, with the exception of Brodsworth, were replaced by trolleybus services, while the Brodsworth and all new routes were serviced by trolleybuses and motorbuses.
Woodlands Model Hotel – an experiment in temperance reform
A PUB aimed at discouraging people from drinking alcohol was planned on a Doncaster estate in 1914.
It was proposed by a group of people who were members of the Temperance movement.
The Doncaster Gazette of Friday March 13, 1914, gave details of a licence granted for a hotel at Woodlands. The building was designed on picturesque lines, with ‘a suggestion of the antique in keeping with the architecture of the Woodlands Model Village’.
The hotel was to be under the control of the People’s Refreshment House Association Ltd, which was formed in 1896 “to promote public house reform, independently of further legislation, by giving facilities for the whole adoption of the system of management without private profit”.
The association was headed by a number of temperance reformers who believed that not prohibition, but disinterested management, was the most hopeful line to take in bringing about the reform they desired.
The president of the association was the Bishop of Chester.
At that time there were over 100 pubs and hotels under the control of the association in various parts of the country.
The aims of the Association included the encouragement of temperance by reform in the management of licensed inns, public houses and canteens and the provision of facilities for the prompt supply of food and non-alcoholic refreshment at licensed houses so they were genuine refreshment houses and not mere drinking bars.
As to the methods, the resident licensed managers were paid a fixed salary, and obtained no profit on alcoholic sales. On the other hand, managers were given a substantial interest in the sale of food and soft drinks and were bound by an agreement to supply these when asked for.
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