The Eagle Inn, situated in the village of Skerne, near Driffield in East Yorkshire, was originally called the BOARD INN when it first opened for trade in 1822. The name was changed to the EAGLE INN when Christopher Leybourn took over as proprietor in 1864. The pub underwent some refurbishment at this time, and it may also have been then that its Victorian beer engine was installed. This remained in use right up until the pub's closure in 2003. It was one of only eight pubs in the country that had no bar; drinks were dispensed in the cellar and brought up to customers on trays.
Roy Edmond pulling a pint of
Cameron's Bitter from the Eagle's Victorian beer engine
Throughout its 181-year history as a public house, the Board/Eagle Inn has only had 7 licensees:
BOARD
INN:
Charles
Layburn
1822 - 1864
EAGLE
INN: Christopher
Leybourn 1864
-
1881
William
Hayton
1881 -
1892
William & Harriett Lovell 1892 -
1944
William
& Howard Green 1944 -
1968
Sylvia Edmond (died 1993) 1968 -
1993
Roy
Edmond
1993 - 2003
The pub finally closed in 2003 following Roy Edmond's retirement due to ill-health. It was purchased by a local builder, who planned to refurbish the pub and re-open it for trade. Controversy then arose when CAMRA applied for, and was granted, a Grade II listing order on the building, which means that no structural alterations or changes to the interior layout of the property can be made. As such, the present owner was unable to see a viable future for it, so it is once more up for sale and in all probability will revert to a private dwelling. In the meantime, sadly, the property is falling into a state of dereliction and decay. It is to be hoped that a satisfactory resolution can be found to this unhappy state of affairs before it is too late.
An article was published in the Beverley Guardian in February 2006 concerning the future of the Eagle Inn.
You can read it here: Eagle's future hangs in the balance
Acknowledgements - My thanks to Sue and Norman Harris, who kindly provided the information and photographs shown above, and for their generous donation of the Eagle's beer engineLast updated: 5 September 2007 14:00:00