The Duke of Wellington on Bugle Street is one of Southamptons most recognisable pubs. According to Historic England, the Duke of Wellington building was constructed using the remains of an existing house, which had been built circa 1220 by Benedict Ace, an early Mayor of Southampton. According to that source, the building was badly damaged by the French and Genoese during their murderous raid in 1338. However, according to the same source, a brewer named Rowland Johnson used the old building to construct his new establishment, which he called ‘Bere House’, in 1494. The building still has its thirteenth century foundations and cellar. Tony Gallaher takes a slightly different view in his excellent book Southampton’s Inns and Taverns. Gallaher states that Rowland Johnson was a Flemish brewer who acquired the building in 1490 and called it ‘Brewe House’. Despite these minor differences, both sources agree that Johnson opened his establishment before the fifteenth century had drawn to a close.

 

he Duke of Wellington was, of course, Arthur Wellesley, who was born in 1769. Two years after his birth, the Bugle Street pub was known as the Shipwrights’ Arms. After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the pub changed its name to the Duke of Wellington in order to commemorate the man who defeated Napoleon once and for all.

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The Duke of Wellington also suffered as a result of the Blitz. The top floor of the pub was completely blown away during the bombing of the town. The damaged building was patched up and remained open until 1961, when it was closed for rebuilding. The top floor was painstakingly recreated to the original dimensions and it reopened in 1963.

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