8 Last Lane (Bourman's Lane)

An outlet of George Beer and Rigden which finally settled for this title after previously being the "American Stores", "Who'd a' Thought It" and "Oxford Music Hall". Also present in the lane up to 1776, and possibly the same, "The Lass". The sign "Criterion" appeared between 1880 and 1882 and continued with that name till October 1968.

A fire starting from the cellar, on 20 January 1890, did not destroy the house completely but the contents of the bar parlour were written off and two men had to be rescued from the upper rooms. Frank Newstead faced bankruptcy as a result.

A redundancy charge was evaded in 1933 and it survived then to 25 October 1968 when it closed and was ready for demolition. Tom Byrne moved to keep the "Invicta".

Above photograph showing the back bar of the Criterion. Kindly supplied by Chris Byrne, landlord Tom's son.

Demolition was authorised, together with the "Prince Louis" nearby, by the Ministry of Transport, in June 1970. The house vanished in November.

LICENSEE LIST

SMITH Henry 1882

NEWSTEAD Frank Euston 1890

GOLDING Thomas 1891-95

FRIEND Mrs (Richard) 1899

FRIEND Mrs J 1901-04

HOOKWAY W T S 1904

WHITE W H 1906 end

ARKLEY T 1906-09

BARTON Frank 1908-28 end

LAZELL Alfred B 1928-29

MACDONALD W 1929

MCDONALD William 1929

NOAKES Albert Stanton 1930-31 end

PEALL Alfred Horace 1931-32+

MACKAY A E 1934-38+

BYRNE William 1948-59

BYRNE Thomas 1964-66

From the Post Office Directory 1882

From the Post Office Directory 1891

From Pikes Dover Blue Book 1895

From the Kelly's Directory 1899

From the Post Office Directory 1901

From the Post Office Directory 1903

From Pikes Dover Blue Book 1909

From the Post Office Directory 1913

From the Post Office Directory 1922

From Pikes Dover Blue Book 1923

From Pikes Dover Blue Book 1924

From the Post Office Directory 1930

From Pikes Dover Blue Book 1932-33

From the Post Office Directory 1938

From Pikes Dover Blue Book 1938-39

From Pikes Dover Blue Book 1948-49

From the Kelly's Directory 1950

From the Kelly's Directory 1953

From the Kelly's Directory 1956