Fresh plans unveiled to refurbish iconic 231-year-old Northampton town centre pub

Fresh plans have been submitted to refurbish an historic and iconic Northampton town centre pub.

The McManus Pub Company has submitted plans to West Northamptonshire Council to add new signage, paint and external lighting to Shipmans pub in the Drapery.

After closing down in 2014, the three-storey pub has stood looking gradually more weathered and unloved ever since.

The pub was taken over by the McManus Pub Company in 2015, which runs a host of popular and successful establishments in the county.

McManus Pub Company previously submitted plans to refurbish the site back in February 2020, just a month before the Covid pandemic hit.

The new plans, which are the effectively a resubmission of the 2020 proposals, aim to repaint the pub in blue and white, replace all the aging above the door and hang a new barrel on the Market Square side of the business.

New signs submitted within the planning papers say the renovated pub will specialise in traditional food and craft beer.

McManus Pub Company has been contacted for comment.

History of Shipmans

The pub was built in 1790 by the Shipman family and is a narrow, three-storey building that is Grade Two listed.

Local historian Dave Knibb, author of 'Last Orders: A History and Directory of Northampton Pubs', has provided a comprehensive background of the historic pub.

Dave said: "Although not the oldest pub in Northampton, there is a fairly strong case to say the Shipmans is the most famous to the town’s inhabitants.

"The trail went cold on who was running the pub in the early 1800’s but the first mention I found of the Shipman family was in 1827 when Whitmy and Shipman were advertising as wine and brandy merchants from the pub.

"W & R Shipman had, in the 20th Century, been promoting their business as being established in 1790, and indeed it had, but for the first 50 years or so it was a partnership and only became W & R Shipman in the 1870’s.

"There were mentions of ‘Mr Shipmans’ in relation to the pub in the mid 1800’s, many places were referred to by a long standing landlords name rather than the ‘sign’ at the time, but the first mention of the ‘Shipmans’ came in 1862. Whitmy had disappeared from the business and the Shipman family were to run it up until the end of World War Two.

"At the time of writing (early 2019), the pub is shut, it has been for a few years now. Plans are underway for it to be reopened with as much of the traditional interior being restored and retained. I hope so although it will be a challenge for such a small place, even if it does have entrances to both Drum Lane and the Drapery.

"When it does [reopen], whatever the guise, go in and have a drink, its your public duty. The internet is swamped with well meaning people who lament the passing of pubs, pubs they haven’t visited for ten, twenty, thirty years or more, they say something should be done. Well here’s the answer, patronise instead of eulogise."