A History of The Avon Packet

Early History

The earliest records of buildings on the site of the Avon Packet go back over 260 years. The Agreement of Sale dated 28th August 1741 stated that the land and all on it now belonged to "...Edward Gore and his wife Arabella." In an earlier history of the Avon Packet it was mentioned that, "...numbered door entrances in the cellars beneath the present Avon Packet Tavern may heve been the front doors of the cottages or dwellings mentioned in the 1741 deed and that buildings were erected on them when the ground level was raised from the excavated soil in the making of the New Cut.

Name Origins

The Avon Packet is situated on Coronation road, which was named in celebration of the coronation of George IV, the Prince Regent, eldset son of George III, in 1820. The pub name itself relates to shipping which must have come after the making of the New Cut around 1803 - 1809. At that time there was fierce competition among passenger steamer owners. The Bristol Steam Navigation Company had held a monopoly with paddle steamers until a new concern called the New Steam Packet Company started a rival service with two iron screw steamers named the "Avon" and the "Severn".

The Avon Packet

The "Avon" was 112 feet 6 inches long, 15 feet 6 inches broad and had a depth of 8 feet 6 inches. She was made by Stothert, Slaughter and Company at their St Phillip's Yard in Bristol. The little, attractive packet passenger steamer must have passed by the Avon Packet many times on her way to and from Bathurst Basin.
She carried two tall masts with a long funnel coloured with a black top band and a dark yellow stem. In 1873 she was sold to Londonderry, crossed over the Irish Sea in 1879 after which her recoeds were lost.

The Avon Packet as a Pub

It is fairly certain that the Packet became a tavern around 1843 and in 1875 it was sold as such to the brewers, James and Pierce, thus ending its run as a ‘free house’. In 1889 George's took over James and Pierce's brewery at Bedminster Bridge.
On the 29th September 1962, the Avon Packet Tavern was sold to Courages for £9,800.