New Inn, Telford

The pub is actually within the Blists Hill Victorian Town Museum but this review was recently unearthed in an inevitably dusty archive..... "It was without not a little trepidation that your humble and respectable correspondent entered the “New Inn” in the village of Blists Hill, a locale of unsightly mines, iron works and similar manifestations of despoiling industry although its additions to the nation's economy make it a necessary evil. As respectable people may conclude public houses in this district are of a largely base nature and one may expect to see all manner of depravity enacted hereabouts. The premises stand on a corner of the main street of the village and Canal Street, it is a white painted building artificed to resemble stucco and is in the ownership of Messers Banks of Wolverhampton. The interior comprises a lowly public bar and a tap room with a more respectable parlour at the rear which also provides service as an impromptu “music hall”. The public bar and tap room are furnished in modern but frugal style with solid cast iron tables and rightous benches, un-upholstered so as not to provide undue comfort to any wastrels who may wish to lanquish upon the premises overly long rather than to continue with gainful employment. There are prints of a sentimental nature upon the walls and I was heartened to see a portrait of our dear late Queen hanging in pride of place over the mantlepiece, a reminder perhaps to the clientele of higher ideals. The establishment provides Bitter and Mild ales from the proprietors as well as cordials, fruit juices and sadly a number of spirits, which of course are a curse on the lives of the lower orders, honest wholesome English ale should be sufficent to slake the thirst of the working man. A price of sevenpence halfpenny (£2.90) for a pint of mediocre ale seemed rather high for the locality. The customers appeared to be on the whole respectable people and not those one may expect to find brought before the local Police Court. I do regret to report that in addition to “ladies” in the Tap Room, I witnessed young children in the parlour , none drinking strong liquor may God be pleased, but singing aloud to vulgar popular songs such as Daisy Daisy, and My Old Man Said Follow the Van, although perhaps such ditties may not endanger the moral well being of young children unlike those sung by Miss Marie Lloyd upon the stages of the metropolis. The establishment is a purveyor of “potato crisps”. "