Only the Old Talbot in College Street, and the Cardinal's Hat in Friar Street, remain of Worcester's medieval inns; with the Star in Foregate Street, and the Crown in Broad Street, surviving from the 16th and 17th centuries. But records survive of others. In, or near St. Peter's parish it was to be expected that there would be inns using the Cross Keys, the symbol of St. Peter. In fact, there were three inns of that name in earlier times.
Cross Keys, Friar Street. This beautiful half-timbered building is of great age. It appears to have been an ecclesiastical inn, but at various periods, to have been used for other purposes. In 1649, the accommodation was listed as: 'a shop, hall, kitchen, a little buttery, parlour, another little room, a cellar with four chambers above, a stable with a backside and garden'. Some of the ceiling timbers are undoubtedly ships' timbers. It was an inn in 1829, and remained so until about 1912, but was in a very dilapidated state. It was restored and became a coffee house, and later, became the city's Education Office. It is now part of the City Museums.
Cross Keys, Sidbury. On, or next to, the site of the present White Hart, College Street. In 1690, Harry Green, a maltster held it, with Samuel Bryan, the printer of Worcester's first newspaper as his neighbour. It was pulled down previous to 1744, and later replaced by the Hare & Hounds, which in its turn, was replaced by Willis's Shoe Factory.
Cross Keys, St. Mary's Gate (Edgar Tower). In 1776, 'the Cross Keys near the Deanery Garden' changed its name to the Horse & Groom.
The Cock Inn, Sidbury. 'Ye Cocke, at ye Knolle-end, Sidbury', was in c.1570 belonging to Hugh Adams, and was described as 'containing a hall, kitchen, buttery, parlour, cellar, brewhouse, yard or court, stable, four upper chambers, and top lofts over them, occupied by Elizabeth Stevens, widow.
Three Cranes, Lich Street. Described in 1601 as containing only three small rooms below and three over, with a cellar belonging to John Honnyett, butcher. In 1690 Anthony Hopkins held it. About the same time there was a house called the Three Cranes in High Street, and one called Three Pyes in Lich Street.
Cross Inn, Cornmarket. That this inn existed, we can thank an entry in the Civil War diary of Henry Townshend, dated june 13, 1646, describing the great seige of Worcester: 'the enemy shot off 13 cannons playing chiefly against St. Martin's Church, the Cross Inn and houses near, did hurt no person, but shattered houses, especially the Crodd Inn, and one shot into the window of St. Martin's Church and so broke some seats.'
King's Head, Sidbury. In 1690, described as a 'tenement in the parish of St. Peter, nere adjoynynge the gate of the said cittie called Sudbury gate, and hath been knowen and called by the name of the signe of the Bell, now in the occupation of Roger Folliott'. At the Restoration of Charles II when so many inns assumed the sign of the King's Head, in memory of the 'martyr', the Bell changed its name, for in 1678 it was described as formerly the Bell, but then the King's Head, in the tenure of Joan Hemming, at a rental of 20s.
