The Travellers Rest on Mapperley Plains is a historic pub with a rural-feel that dates back to the 18th century. It famously served as a halfway house for drovers herding geese into the city for the historic Goose Fair, offering a vital resting point for weary travelers. It is also recorded as being the location for a boxing match in the 1830s involving the famous Nottingham prize-fighter Bendigo.
Originally operating as a humble, small-scale beerhouse for rural workers. The original cottage and smallholding was next to a 10-acre site with over 500 apple trees. The current building replaced it in 1925.
The original Travellers Rest on Mapperley Plains circa 1900.
Lawson Croft was a smallholding next door where over 500 apple trees were planted on the 10 acre site. The original cottage building survived until 2008 when a new property was built on the site. Some trees remain and an apple tree expert from Brackenhurst College took cuttings of the rare apple variety.
In The News
With thanks to local Historian Bob Massey we can share some information from old newspaper articles.
In 1928 an application was made for a licence to sell beer, wines and spirits at the Travellers Rest in Mapperley. The licence was to be removed from the White Lion in Calverton and given to the Mapperley hostelry. The Travellers Rest was not a full public house at the time, only a beerhouse. The transfer was refused.
In 1929, the Travellers Rest was raided as it was only licensed as a beer house, so could only sell beer, but was found to be selling wines and spirits as well The landlord and his wife were prosecuted and fined £10, with costs of £3. All the offending spirits were impounded.
In 1929 the landlord was Joe Smith. He employed William Taylor, a 22 year old homeless man, Smith provided Taylor with somewhere to live as well as paying him for the work he carried out. In June 1929, Joe gave Taylor a mare to take to stud at Oxton, along with the stud fee of £1/3/6d. Taylor left the mare in a field at Carlton and pocketed the money. He then stole a bicycle and sold it in Nottingham for 5/- When he didn’t return to the pub, Smith informed the police, who arrested Taylor and he was imprisoned for six weeks. A sad conclusion to a generous gesture.
In July 1931 the landlord was Herbert Powell. He went down into the cellar and found two men with several bottles of beer in their arms. One man was caught by Powell but the other escaped. Powell took the man to the police station where he was charged with attempted theft of the beer. In court he was fined 1/- the value of the beer in question.
In 1934 the Travellers Rest was subject to a hoax fire alarm. The local Carlton brigade were called out to a reported blaze at the pub. When they arrived there was no sign of a fire and no sign that there had been any incident.
After the Second World War the landlord of the pub was Bert Coats. Bert had been in the Canadian mounted police and fought in the Canadian army in the First World War. After the conflict he moved to this country where he joined the UK police and steadily rose through the ranks to the position of Superintendent. Coats retired from the police in 1947 and became the landlord of the Travellers Rest. Unfortunately he did not remain so for long as he died suddenly in November 1952.
Present Day
Today, the Travellers Rest operates as a Chef & Brewer country pub. It still retains its rustic, cozy appeal with exposed beams, three open log fires, and an outdoor beer garden offering panoramic views of the surrounding Nottinghamshire countryside.
The view from the back of the pub over fields towards Bank Hill and Woodborough
Some of the original apple trees in the private dwelling next door are visible from the road
