Duke of Wellington, Dillwyn Street
Duke of Wellington, Dillwyn Street
In 1979 Tabitha John (known as Bitha), who was over 80 years old, was persuaded by her family to write a book about her memories and Tabitha – The Story of a Llanelli Character was printed by Gwerin of 17 Market Street, Llanelli.
According to her mother, Tabitha was born in Emma Street, in the Tyisha district of Llanelli in December 1893, and was a 'proper weakling'.
The book is written in a conversational manner and is full of the history of the people and events that she remembered over her 80 plus years. It is also an insight to local traditions and how people lived before, during and after the two World Wars.
As far as her memories of the Duke of Wellington, in Dillwyn Street are concerned these began in 1940, when Bitha still had four children at home, her son Graham was unemployed, the other three children were still in school, her husband Tom had just become unemployed and her aunt – who was Landlady of the Duke of Wellington – was ill. The aunt begged Bitha to take over the licence but at that time Tom was against the idea.
During the 1930s and 1940s the family suffered hard times, money was short and unemployment high. In spite of her husband’s objections, Bitha travelled to Swansea to see Mr Rogers, the Hancocks’ Brewery Manager. When she returned her husband was delighted to tell her that he had employment at the Burry Port Royal Ordnance Factory, so they would not be able to take over the Licence of the ‘Duke’.
Bitha was determined to make a better life for her family and saw obtaining the Licence of the Duke as their salvation. Bitha and Tom eventually took over the Duke of Wellington in March 1940 and the Licence was granted in May.
Bitha had to get blackout curtains (it was wartime) for all the windows. There were nine windows to cover and little or no money so it was necessary to obtain them ‘on tick’ from the packman.
The public house was in a poor state and Bitha refused to move in and had to walk from Heol Tregoning to the Duke every day, from March until October. In those days the Duke was still a ‘Spit and Sawdust’ bar with sand on the floor instead of sawdust. Bitha had to be at the pub from 12 noon until 3 pm then she had to rush home after clearing up to see to her family. At 5 o’clock it would be a mad dash back to the Duke until 11 or 11.30 pm when it was stop tap. She had to clear up before she left.
It was wartime and there was a ‘blackout’ in force. Bombs were being dropped all over Swansea and Llanelli and the Air Raid Wardens warned her to take cover, but she was anxious about her children, and scurried home.
Bitha remembers that the Duke’s floors were stone and they looked as if they had never been scrubbed. As beer was carried from the cellar to the two rooms, through a passageway, the beer drops on the sand had formed a ridge of a hard cement-like material.
Tom, her long-suffering husband spent many hours chipping the hardened sand with a hammer and chisel. Bitha and her friend, Mrs Isaac from the Morfa, spent Sunday evenings scrubbing the floors. There was no running hot water so they had to light the fire to heat the stove to get hot water. Undeterred, and before they moved into the Duke, the stone floors were clean and smooth. After that the stone flags were scrubbed every day.
In the front room of the pub there was a corner squared off, but why it was this way Bitha did not know, her aunt had only kept a few bottles of spirits there. The area was too small to serve customers so Hancocks Brewery had it removed. The front room was much bigger after that and the brewery laid lino, which made cleaning much easier. The stone floors of the middle room, the passage, kitchen and the cellar still had to be scrubbed though.
Bitha recalled it was a very hard house to run in those days, there were coal fires in all the rooms and in the centre room there was a large range which had to be cleaned and black leaded – this alone took at least half an hour. Before Bitha took over there were spittoons everywhere but she soon got rid of the ‘filthy things’. When she told the men and boys that the spittoons had to go she asked them to respect the fact that the pub was also their home – a situation they accepted with good grace. She was a strict landlady and would not tolerate bad behaviour or foul language and the Duke gained respectability. She described her customers as a jolly crowd of men and always referred to them as ‘boys’ whether they were 18 or 80.
Although Bitha and Tom had worked wonders at the Duke there was still much to be done. There was no hot water and no bathroom; bathing was done in a zinc bath in front of the fire, which was disconcerting, because the police could demand immediate entry at any time. Because it was wartime and even if the brewery had wanted to improve the situation a special permit was needed. However before long a permit was granted and a very small bathroom was built off the corner of their clubroom. All the grates were changed to smaller ones because the old grates would take a bucketful of coal in one go. A new deep sink was installed in the cellar and a spirit cupboard was also built in the corner, which was handy to keep all the cigarettes and spirits in. Another cupboard was also built in the living room and because it had a hot water tank with an immersion heater fitted, Bitha used as an airing cupboard.
During the war years beer and spirits were rationed and Bitha and Tom often went to Hancocks Brewery in Swansea to try to persuade them to deliver more. The Brewery did what they could but very often the Duke had to close because it had run dry. Due to the shortage of petrol during those war years, zoning came into being and Hancocks took over Buckley houses in Swansea and Buckley took over Hancock houses in Llanelli and district.
Bitha’s house welcomed people from all walks of life from vicars and curates, to policemen and brewery managers.
Bitha remembered her 23 years at the Duke with great affection, even the war years when everything was rationed. Bitha and her husband were very happy at the Duke but it was a hard house to run and they left on the day of their Golden Wedding anniversary. They could not have a party at the pub because Tom was ill and the new landlord was moving in so they had a family celebration in their new home.
The ‘boys’ at the Duke collected enough money to present them with a silver tea service and in return Bitha gave money for her ‘boys’ to have a celebration.
After they left the Duke they moved into a house in Mansel Street and when Tom died Bitha remained there for eight years. She missed her partner and decided to apply for a bungalow. The last few paragraphs of her book are very moving:
‘Now I’ll finish with deep gratitude and thanks to all my children, family and those dear friends from the Morfa for all their help and friendship. I’ve had wonderful neighbours wherever I’ve lived and can honestly say I’ve never had a cross word with anyone and that gives me a marvellous feeling.
‘Tom and I were very happy for the first few years of our married life. I’m thankful to say that Tom’s last years were also very happy. I do miss him.
‘People today do not know what poverty means and what it can do to one. I wish they’d be thankful and contented instead of striking for the least thing. They don’t know how well off they are. I pray they will never see the times we had between 1920 and 1945.’
© W & B Rees & ARTdesigns 2004/2006
Page updated Saturday May 19, 2007