FOR last orders this week we look back to the beginning of the last century when the humble horse and cart were the main forms of transport around the town to find the origins of the Engineer’s Arms that stood on the corner of Northam Road and Wilson Street in Southampton.

This particular pub, which is shown as a beer house on the 1878 Drink Map, dates back to the 1850s when it started life at the Victoria Arms, back to an era when Northam Road was better known as Northam High Street.

It is understood that the pub changed its name during the 1870s when engine driver Mr J. Masters became the new licensee and perhaps changed the name of the pub as a playful acknowledgement to his other profession.

Welch’s Lion Brewery took the pub over in July 1876 and later sold it to Scrace’s Star Brewery for the sum of £500. It later belonged to Strong’s Romsey Brewery but had been taken over by the Whitbread Group when it ceased trading on 31 January 1982. The premises are now occupied by a firm of dental technicians but the old “Engineers Arms” lettering above the doors of the front entrance still remain.

Next week we will be looking back at the Number One Inn, Mount Pleasant Road.

In recent years, scores of pubs across Southampton have shut down. They were all focal points for their communities during their time, and their loss is often lamented. Some were sold because the owners’ could get more money for housing, others because landlords could no longer afford the expensive rents and costs of running a pub, while others may have simply seen their trade dry up.

The Daily Echo is going back through the archives to remember Southampton’s pubs which have been lost over the years. As well as a weekly look back at the forgotten establishments on the pages of Hampshire Heritage, The Daily Echo is also compiling a comprehensive gallery of Southampton’ Lost Pubs, with part one in this series now available to view on the Daily Echo’s website.

Do you have any photographs or happy memories of your lost local? If so, Hampshire Heritage would love to share them with our readers. Please contact Jez Gale at jez.gale@dailyecho.co.uk or write to Hampshire Heritage, Southern Daily Echo, Newspaper House, Test Lane, Southampton, SO16 9JX.