Gray & Sons
The Cricketers is a Gray & Sons pub that has been at the heart of the Old Moulsham community since the mid 1800s.
The Gray family started brewing in Springfield Road in 1828 and it is thought that The Black Boy Coaching Inn had a brewery around that time.
The Black Boy was one of Chelmsford’s most famous landmarks which was originally used by the de Vere family as a stop over on their trips to London and later played host to George IV, The Duke of Wellington and Charles Dickens – although Dickens was not too complimentary about Chelmsford.
Brewing stopped at the Springfield Road Brewery in 1974 and operations now are based in Rignals Lane, Galleywood. The old brewery still stands today, thanks mainly to the efforts of early CAMRA members, and has been the home of Habitat in the past whilst now being used by major restaurant chains, a perfect use for this beautiful old industrial building.
History
Formerly The Bakers Arms, The Cricketers is built on the site of a hopfield that bordered Moulsham Street in the eighteenth century. Chas Reed Craske, a newly fledged beer seller, had the house built in the 1840s and gave it its original name of “The Bakers Arms” because his former trade was baking. The Bakers Arms combined both businesses and brewing was also done on site for a while. It was kept as a “Licensed Public Victualling House”. Baking activities continued on the site when William Tillet took over, he also being a baker. Rent in 1853 was £4.4s.0d.
The Bakers Arms was renamed by the Coope brothers, who purchased the property in 1853 and were obviously unimpressed by its former name. In 1855 the post office directory calls it The Cricketers. In 1864 Messrs Gray brewers, came into the picture and are still there today. In 1978 it was recorded that licensees The Perry family were holding the record for the longest tenancy in a pub in the country. Sadly the connection was broken when Landlady Renee Rose died a year later.
We took over The Cricketers at the end of July 2012 from Kevin and Christine Harley who had run the pub from the mid 1990s.
The Cricketers, as you would expect, has undergone many changes over the last two centuries and our recent refurbishment has tried to be sympathetic to the traditional nature of the building whilst making it friendly, comfortable and contemporary.
Find Us
Tel: 01245 268211
email: pub@thecricketers.biz
Twitter: @CricketersPH
Facebook: TheCricketersChelmsford
Instagram: cricketerschelmsford
Most bus routes pass through Parkway with the main bus stops being at the bottom of Moulsham Street
First Buses No 100 and 42 come into Chelmsford down New London Road and the closest bus stop is Queen Street.
Find The Cricketers
The Cricketers is in easy reach of the centre of Chelmsford just a short walk up Moulsham Street from Parkway.
There is ample on street parking on both Queen Street and Moulsham Street with plenty of overnight parking spaces in George Street Car Park 30 seconds walk away.
