Strange but true - bull and bear fighting were once banned in Knaresborough pubs

Mike Baxter of Knaresborough Library Local History Group and Knaresborough Community Archaeology Group provided this photograph from 1893 of the Black Horse pub.

A local history group based in Knaresborough Library is highlighting the town's lost pubs of the past and has made an amazing discovery - licensing laws in the 19th century had to deal with bull and bear fighting.

Mike Baxter of Knaresborough Library Local History Group and Knaresborough Community Archaeology Group has been looking into the 200th anniversary when Baine's Trade Directory published a list of 40 public houses in Knaresborough in 1822.

Many of them, are no more - names such as the Nag's Head on Cheapside, the Black Horse at the Market Place and the Elephant & Castle on the High Street.

But others survive, among them the World's End, though in a rebuilt form after it was originally demolished.

The Elephant & Castle pub on the High Street circa 1900. (Photo provided by Mike Baxter of Knaresborough Library Local History Group and Knaresborough Community Archaeology Group.

These days in the era of craft beer and CAMRA, Knaresborough is known not only for the abundance of its pubs but also the quality.

But Mr Baxter, who believes 10 of the original 40 pubs mentioned in Baine's Trade Directory still exist, has also found an interesting advert from the same time showing standards were a little different in the 19th century.

The 1827 license application for the former White Horse public house on Finkle Street included the following terms and conditions:

"The licensee shall not knowingly permit, any Bull, Bear, or Badger Baiting, Cock Fighting, or other such Sport or Amusement."

The series of History, Directory & Gazetteer books by Edward Baines are an invaluable source of information for towns across England in the 19th century.