What was the Yew Tree Inn at Odstock originally. Or was it always an Inn?
What is now the Yew Tree Inn was a pair of 18th century cottages. By 1875 George Ford is listed as a beer retailer and shopkeeper and I would think that this would have been at one, or possibly both of the cottages. He was listed as an agricultural machinery owner in 1867 and he probably opened a shop and beer house as he became older and could no longer undertake contract work on farms. He is still there in 1885 but in 1889 Mrs Mary Ann Ford is listed as a beer retailer, so George had probably died. In 1895 and 1899 it is Harry Ford, presumably their son. Other beer retailers were, 1907 William Haskell, 1911 Alfred Lock, 1915 – 1935. In 1939 the directory listing is Walter Loius Ings at the Yew Tree Public House. It is likely that a full licence was granted between 1935 and 1939 and that is why the name was then listed. It is most likely that the name had been the Yew Tree from the 1870s but the convention was that if it had a beer only licence the name was not listed in directories.
