One of The oldest pubs that Richmond has to offer, serving since 1770 and situated on what was originally registered as 25 Greenside. The Cricketers, as its name suggests, serves as the town’s pseudo pavilion and is the official residence of not one, but two of the official cricket teams in Richmond.
The earliest reference to cricket on The Green is from 1666 the same year the Great Fire of London destroyed 13,200 buildings. The details of another fire that took place 178 years later in the Cricketers are fascinating.
Below is a clipping from the Yorkshire Gazette On 25th August 1844. The article covers the details of a big fire which had broken out in the Cricketers 5 days previously shortly after 2 am. It mentions that the owner of the property a ‘Mr Collins the Brewer’. The Collins family owned the brewery at the end of Water Lane located in what is now the Slug and Lettuce, founded in 1720 and closing in the 1870s.
The fire spread to many of neighbouring building causing extensive damage. Luckily Henry Vollum, the publican and all the other occupants escaped without injury and property was fully insured. Others of ‘the labouring class’ were not so lucky and probably lost everything when their properties were destroyed. A young woman was also recorded as being in a ‘dangerous state’ after jumping from a window to escape the flames.
