Duke of Connaught

12 Sep 1975, Time Gentlemen Please! To Watch Those Prices

Tenant of the Duke of Connaught for four years, Mr George Boff, partly blames a recent facelift to the pub for prices. “There has just been £1,000 worth of modifications to the saloon bar. There is also a games room with darts as well as brand new indoor loos. Seating, carpets and general decoration all have to be taken into consideration. Generally I charge either I p or 2p more in the saloon than the public bar.” (part of a larger article).

Src: Windsor & Eton Express; 12 Sep 1975

19 Apr 1985, It’s Off and Away

5 Jun 2009, Here for a Great Cask

OPULAR pub licensees Mel and Jan Collinge are celebrating after scooping a prestigious award for their beer.

They have been awarded Cask Marque accreditation fo serving the perfect pint of cask-conditioned ale at their pub the Duke of Connaught in Arthur Road, Windsor.

The award is backed by 34 brewers and pub companies and only 5,000 pubs have earned it since it was founded in 1997.

Mel said: “A lot of our customers visit for the cask ale
and it needs looking after.”

Src: The Express, 5 Jun 2009.

7 Dec 2012, Hair we go for Cancer Charities

Regulars raised £7,100 by shaving off their moustaches for Movember 2012. They finished 75th out of 32,000 in the Movember leaderboard.

Src: The Express, 7 Dec 2012.

The Origins of the Duke of Connaught

The Duke of Connaught was not an overnight success. Its story began in 1876, when local builder and estate agent John Alexander Wilkins applied for permission to build a public house on Arthur Road, then a rapidly developing part of Clewer. Wilkins had already supervised the construction of nearly one hundred houses on the nearby Gardner Estate and believed the expanding community desperately needed a licensed house. Residents often had to travel “considerable” distances to reach the nearest public house, and during periods of flooding some could only reach the Mitre by punt. Despite these arguments, his first three applications for a licence, in 1876, 1877 and 1878, were all refused.

Undeterred, Wilkins continued with the project. By 1881 the building had been completed and was first recorded under the name “Duke of Connaught“. Over the following years he submitted a succession of applications for a full public house licence, while securing more limited permissions to sell beer and wine. Licensing magistrates repeatedly rejected his requests, arguing that the area was already adequately served by nearby public houses including the Mitre, Bexley Arms, Noah’s Ark, the Swan and the Duke of Edinburgh. Wilkins countered that Arthur Road had expanded dramatically, with well over one hundred new houses occupied by mechanics, labourers and their families, and that the new road had become a busy route for traffic travelling between Windsor, Bray and Maidenhead. The Duke itself had been purpose-built as a public house, complete with bar parlour, public room, cellar, club room and extensive stabling.

By the late 1880s the Duke of Connaught had become firmly established despite never securing the full spirit licence its owner desired. The property was leased to William Shipley of the Burge Brewery on a 99-year building lease, reflecting the brewery’s confidence in its future. Following the death of John Alexander Wilkins in 1890, management passed to his son, Charles Ralph Wilkins, who continued as the licensee for almost forty years. The determination shown by the Wilkins family over more than a decade transformed what began as a speculative building project into one of Arthur Road’s best-known public houses, serving the growing community for generations.

The Petts

Arthur George Pett (1875 – 1939), of the Duke of Connaught, 165 Arthur Road, died on 15 Nov 1939, leaving his estate to his widow, Ann Pett (1873 – 1947). The 1921 Census records him as a boiler and engine attendant at the Burge Brewery in Windsor, when the couple were living at 77 Arthur Road, where they remained until at least 1931. They are associated with the Duke of Connaught by 1932, suggesting they were well-established local residents. It is possible that Arthur’s employment at the brewery helped facilitate their move to the pub following the Meux takeover. Ann remained at the Duke after Arthur’s death for a period (how long is currently unknown) and died in 1947. They were survived by a son, John.

The Christmas Play

For many years in the 21st-century, the Christmas Play was written by the locals (Scottish Fraser was one), and then acted out in the bar by many of the regulars appropriately dressed up. It was performed as a one-off and usually took the mickey out of the landlord and many of the regulars. It usually ended up in hysterics and a huge party afterwards.

Rooms Above

From Electoral Rolls, it appears that during the thirties and forties, that the landlords would take in tenants. It is unclear whether they worked in the bar(s) or not.