Home > Devon > Plymouth > Charlotte Street Ale Store Charlotte Street Ale Store
	Picture source: Clive Schneidau
The Charlotte Street Ale Store was situated at 32 Charlotte Street. This pub was built in the early 19th century and demolished in 1958. The Albert was built as a replacement. This pub stood just outside the Albert's current car park.
In early 1963 as a very young Royal Navy Rating the first pub I entered in Devonport was the Charlotte Street Ale Store. It was run by an old married couple, Sid & Elsie, Sid was an old ex Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Cook. The building was an old terraced two up & two down, the two downstairs rooms being knocked into one. The bar ran about two thirds the length of the room. There was space for two people to pass between the bar and the wall, there was just enough room behind the bar for Sid to move around, he was very fat. There was an outside toilet in a small yard at the back of the building accessed by a door at the end of the room. Anyone re-entering the bar had to beware when opening the door because the dartboard was right beside the door. Sid and Elsie were the perfect hosts, the atmosphere was always happy and welcoming. Between 1963 and 1966 it was always my first port of call whenever I was in Devonport. When I first started drinking there a pint of beer was one shilling and three pence, the equivalent of 6.25 pence now. I could have a pretty good run ashore for ten shillings and seven pence, (58p now), that was eight pints of beer and seven pence for an oggy from Ma’s stall outside St. Leven’s dockyard gate on the way back onboard, perfect.
James Mann (August 2020)
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