Alnwick (Market Place) - Bee Hive Inn

Name: The Bee Hive Inn

Address: 13, Market Place, Alnwick

Pig in Muck c.2026

The historic public house called the Bee Hive in the Market Place of Alnwick operated from the 1700s to the late 1800s. It may no longer be a pub but the name lives on via 'The Beehive', a popular vintage and antique centre located nearby on Narrowgate. 

Historical archives from the Northumberland Freemasons note that local groups, such as the Northumberland Lodge No. 483, held early meetings inside the Beehive Inn in Alnwick as far back as 1788.

1829 Pigot's Directory Ann Attison

1864 Town Map Bee Hive Inn

Listed landlords include Ann Attison (1829), Robert Yeaman (1834) and Mary Tate (1851), John Stevenson (1858-63), Peter Riddle (1873) and George Stevenson (-1877).

1834 Pigot's Directory Robert Yeaman

Whilst I can't be absolutely certain that Mary Tate ran the pub in 1851, her position on the census enumerator's route is about right and she later moved up the road and was landlord of the Globe Inn, so I think it is highly likely. You note, she gave her professional as Wine & Spirit Dealer.

1851 Census Mary Tate Wine & Spirit Merchant

Strangely, on the 1855 Whellan Directory there is no mention of the Bee Hive, although it appears on the Post Office directory in 1858, so can only assume it was missed off in error or remained closed at that time after Mary Tate's departure.

Newcastle Journal 7th August 1852

1855 Whellan's Directory (Mary Tate - Globe Inn)

Morpeth Herald Saturday,  Jan. 23, 1858

1858 Post Office Directory John Stevenson

1861 Census John Stevenson

John Stevenson's occupation is recorded as 'Nurseryman' on the census above but the directory confirms he was also running the Bee Hive. Sadly he was to die two years later, his probate record attesting his time as an Innkeeper.

1863 Probate John Stevenson

Alnwick Mercury 22nd March 1873

Newcastle Courant 21st September 1877

1881 Census George Stevenson

George Stevenson remained living at the inn after the license was discontinued into the 1877 until his death in 1889.

1887 Probate George Stevenson

I can find no further reference to the Bee Hive Inn after 1877.