Page 5 - Wokingham's Closed Pubs and Breweries as A5 booklet

3. The Shades, 15/17 Broad Street, last mentioned in 1901, now
Northwood Estate Agents

The Shades was a beerhouse, opened in 1851
after some local opposition from other
breweries and the well-to-do residents of
Broad Street. Rosalind Baker, a member of
the brewing family, lived at the Shades.
(Link to brewery, see 5).

A beerhouse was a type of public house created in the United Kingdom by
the Beerhouse Act, 1830, legally defined as a place "where beer is sold to be
consumed on the premises”

On the opposite side of the road is: -

4. The Half Moon, 1700 – 1786, built on the site of what is now Royal
Mail Delivery Office.

This was a licensed 17th century house. They,
like several inns and alehouses organised
local entertainments. In 1779 Jacob Pocock,
the licensee, advertised a bull-baiting event to
take place in the pub’s garden. The main
location for bull-baiting was the Market Place
where this took place once a year on St. Thomas’ Day (21st December).

George Staverton, a butcher who died in 1661, bequeathed a house, the rent
from which was to provide two bulls to be tethered and to be baited by dogs.
The meat and leather retrieved from the slaughter was later given to the poor
people of the town. One bull’s tongue was given to the Alderman and the
other to the Town Clerk. The practice was discontinued in 1821 by an Act
against cruelty to animals.

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