Dog & Donkey wave Good Bye to Britannia
Knowle Village's local as it looked when I arrived in the area eight years ago. It had two pub signs: 'Britannia Inn' on the wall and 'The Dog and Donkey' on the car park The old 'Britannia Inn' sign: still there... but maybe not for long The Britannia Inn, we’re told in Fairlynch Museum’s local history records, was the oldest institution in Knowle. It was older than the Village Hall and older by at least 20 years than the former church of St John which stood on Dalditch Lane, and which is listed as being built in 1893. The church was converted into a private residence in around 2013. I use the past tense because it seems at last that the Knowle pub will be officially known by the name used by generations of locals following its recent purchase from Enterprise Inns by publican Nick Stiling. From an incomplete collection of Budleigh Salterton street directories we can date The Britannia’s origins to within ...