Fenland Pub Spotlight

The Moore’s Arms, Frampton

The seventeenth century Moore’s Arms is situated in the most attractive and historic part of Frampton village.  There are twenty-four listed buildings in the parish and seventeen can be found near the pub, including the twelfth century Grade 1 Church of St Mary, the Manor House and Frampton Hall (built in 1720).  The RSPB reserve on nearby Frampton marsh is an added attraction making this a great place to explore before calling into the “Moore’s” for a meal and a pint (of real ale, of course).

The Moore’s Arms is the sole survivor of four marshland pubs which served the rural community to the east of Kirton town.  The Ship by the old sea bank ceased trading around 1900, the famous Boat and Gun at Skeldyke closed its doors at the stroke of twelve on old year’s night 1966 and the Three Horseshoes at Seadyke was demolished after closure.  And here we are again, living in an era where the English pub is struggling to survive.

If you had asked directions to the Moore’s Arms one hundred and fifty years ago you would have received a puzzled response.  Until at least 1868 the pub was called the Duke of Cumberland, but by 1872 it had been rechristened in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel C.T.J. Moore of Frampton Hall, formerly the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire.  He was a noted antiquarian and family researcher and the Coat of Arms on the Moore’s probably represents one of his ancestors (the Coney and Tunnard families who occupied Frampton Hall).

Holes, the Newark brewers, owned the pub until 1948 when it became a free house which it remains to this day.  Landlady Lorraine Duncan arrived in 2009 and is the third generation of a well-known, local business family to have held the licence here.  Her grandparents, Kath and Geordie Clark, were in the Moore’s Arms during the 1950’s and her father, Dave Clark, turned it into the most popular pub in the area before he sold the business some years ago. After a few false starts since then, Lorraine’s aim is to restore the pub to its former glory.

Although principally a “food pub”, The Moore’s has a proper bar area, brimful of character, with a wood-burning stove in the inglenook being a focal point.  Have no cares about the winter weather ahead, a trip to the Moore’s will warm you through for a week!  One thing you can guarantee is the quality of the food which is all locally sourced and home cooked with the Sunday carvery and steak and ale pie being particularly highly regarded. There are no imported, microwaveable plastic bags containing plastic food on these premises! As far as beer is concerned, regrettably, the pub has to stock the usual selection of top-pressure nonentities but always has Bateman’s XB on draught plus one or two guest beers, depending on the season.

The Moore’s has two dining rooms and a dining-conservatory but you can eat in the bar if you wish. Lorraine and her colleagues can cater for all “match, hatch and despatch” occasions and, eventually, she plans to restore fully the secluded, sun-trap beer garden behind the pub. You can visit the Moore’s Arms between 11.00am and 11.00pm, seven days a week, to enjoy the cosy hospitality of this delightful, quintessentially English country pub.

In 1911, the poet Hilaire Belloc commented on the government’s anti-pub attitude and concluded by saying, “Change your hearts or you will lose your Inns and you will deserve to have lost them.  But when you have lost your Inns drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England.”

The moral is use it or lose it! Save our pubs!!