The Shipwrights Arms, Southwick - Once a House of Repute in Sussex

The Shipwrights Arms was on the north side of Albion Street (A259), at No. 107, at the west corner with Rock Road opposite Southwick Town Hall. According to Southwick local historian Ted Heasman, from whom the photograph was originally obtained, the Public Bar was accessed from Albion Street and the door to the Saloon Bar was on Rock Road.

The photograph shows it when it also had a corner entrance and was advertising Worthington’s Pale and Strong Ales, Reid’s Stout and bottled Bass. It was a Kemp Town Brewery pub by the early 1930s.

The first recorded landlord was William George Crosskey in 1867, probably the year the pub was built. The Post Office Directory also records the following licensees: 1915, James Morley; 1930, Frank Henry Wilshere; 1938, George W Beall. The Shipwrights Arms was demolished c. 1962 in the redevelopment of Southwick, which involved the wholesale loss of many Albion Street properties and slip roads and the construction of a new shopping centre to the north of the A259.

Sources:

Aslett, L. (1998), The Pubs of Southwick Past and Present, Part One, Sussex Drinker, Issue 12 (spring), pp. 12-14.

Heasman, W. A. (2009), Memories of Southwick and Kingston Buci, Southwick: Southwick Society.

Directory of Pubs in the UK, historical public houses, Taverns, Inns, Beer Houses and Hotels, http://pubshistory.com/SussexPubs/Brighton/ShipwrightsArms.shtml