Old pub was my home, says Ann
The "Broadway Home" sign on the front of the Lord Hill pub in Dawley caused us some headscratching when we published this photo in Pictures From The Past, but Mrs Ann Archer of High Ercall has provided us with a straightforward explanation.
And she should know as, not only was she born at the Lord Hill, but it was her home for the first 21 years of her life.
Our picture was a postcard which has a franking date which looks like 1944, so it's likely that at the time it was taken that the young Ann Terry, as she was, was somewhere inside.
"I was three years old when that picture was taken. The Lord Hill Inn, as it was called, was owned at that point by the Broadway Brewery.
"There's a long street in Shifnal called Broadway and the brewery was at the very top of there. It was bought up by Banks's brewery.
"The tenants were my mum and dad - firstly my dad, Mr William Terry, and then when he died my mum Mrs Alice Terry, who became Mrs Phillips when she married again. She was the tenant until she died in the early 1960s."
There is a man standing outside the pub in the picture and although Ann does not think it is her father, she is not sure as she says she was only five when he died.
"The black and white building next door was a smallholding which belonged to Mr and Mrs Davies. It was like a little farm. I remember a field at the back, and they had pig sties. I used to help haymaking in the field - the whole village would help.
"I remember the son Ken Davies worked for the council."
Her impression was that it was a genuinely ancient building.
"I remember being inside it and it was a very old building. I used to play with the granddaughter.
"I left the Lord Hill just after my mum died. I would be 21 then, so 1962. It's all closed down now. The last I heard it was going to be turned into a Chinese restaurant, but whether that's happened, I don't know.
"It's sad to see it. I'm biased, but it was quite an impressive building at the end of the High Street. I hope they do something with it.
"To me it was home. It was a good place, a family pub, and all the customers were like part of the family. Everybody in the street knew me, and I knew everybody in the street. All the shopkeepers knew us. It was a unique place to grow up in."
On the original picture the name William A. Terry can be read over the door - Ann says his full name was William Arthur Terry.
