Here it is: Ipswich's oldest extant Public House. It sits on the corner of Vernon Street and Stoke Street, and looks over Stoke Bridge.
To the right of the picture is Stoke Street, which had The Defiance PH,. and was the home of Stoke Library whose closure which was one of the small acts of thievery commited in the name of central planning in the post war era.
To the left Vernon St., poor and sad as it looks now.
Once a thriving community spread forth from this windblown place: the street itself was the shopping thoroughfare, leading up to Wherstead Road, with Dock St., Gower St., Little Whip St., Great Whip Street & Felaw St., radiating from Vernon St.
You can get the feeling for it if you watch The Angry Silence, a very good film with Richard Attenborough in the lead role. Parts of the location filming was done both at the corner of Wherstead Rd. and Vernon St., and by Cowell Street, by what is locally known as The Black Bridge, further along Wherstead Road.
