Eagle, Driffield

Page on the history of the Eagle - www.victorian-breweriana.me.uk

Page on the history of the Eagle - www.victorian-breweriana.me.uk

This rural pub first opened in 1822 and until its closure, was regarded as one of the finest examples of a pub left unchanged for over a hundred years. The pub was one of the few in the country that served beer from 'cash register' hand pumps located down in the cellar, with the drinks brought up to the customers on a tray. Amazingly, the Eagle has only had seven licensees in its 181 year life-span. The pub appears on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and following the pub's closure in 2003 it was granted Grade II listed status, partly as a means of preventing a local builder who had bought the property from making wholesale changes to the pub's layout. Sadly the new owner never revised his plans and the building has been left to deteriorate. In May 2011, plans were submitted to convert the pub into a private dwelling and in September 2011, these plans were approved by the council's planning committee. It seems that the village is set to lose its only social amenity and that a great part of our pub heritage will go with it.