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Boar's head pub sign

Post-medieval

completed for accessibility and SEO

The Boar's Head with the sign in 2002

This sign was a well-known landmark in Friar Street for both residents and visitors to Reading. The head was removed from the pub's facade during the building's demolition in early October 2003.

Older Reading people remember the sign being on the Boar's Head since before the Second World War. When it was removed we discovered that it is made of solid limestone and so is far older than anyone realised.

The Boar's Head pub was originally attached to a brewery that reached back to Merchant's Place, where the former stables survive. In the mid-18th century Thomas Flory owned the brewery. He was Mayor of Reading in 1749. He died in 1780 and in 1785 his family sold the brewery to William Garrard. Nearby Garrard Street is named after him. In 1843 Garrard's heirs sold the Boar’s Head. In 1856 Benjamin Tompkins opened his Royal Horse and Carriage Repository next door to the pub. Carriers' stables were built beside the pub and it became a busy terminus for local carriers to and from the surrounding villages.

Museum object number REDMG : 2003.317.1

See related topic: Reading Pubs

See related topic: Story of Reading Gallery