The Golden Ball is shown on both the map (1876, see below) and in several directories.
 Golden Ball in Yellow, White Ball in Blue. The site today is marked by the corner entrance to Butlers in Mary Arches Street. The map reveals that the inn had a central courtyard. In 1850, Trewman refers to the Inn as the New Golden Ball, although in the same year, White quotes the Golden Ball. By 1889 an address of 2 Mary Archers Street is given with 1 and 2 Mary Archers Street shown by 1895. This might suggest an expansion of the pub after 1889, but then again it might not. It is likely that both this pub and the White Ball a little further up the Street were demolished or partly demolished when Mary Arches Street was widened after WW2. The current cellars of Butlers however are very likely those of the Golden Ball. The inn was the subject of a "to let" notice in the EFP on 27th April 1770, the earliest note I can find. Interestingly the owner William F. Blackmore went into liquidation on 23rd March 1881 according to the flying post and the inn was sold at auction in 1909. In 1947, Besley states that 2-4 Mary Archers Street was a Chemist, Stone and Stone. By 1970, Kelly lists the White Lion as a restaurant rather than a pub. However the first floor was a Berni Restaurant by 1980 with the ground foor hosting a lounge and public bar, see the diagram below During the 1980's this was The White Lion run by Colin Donkin, becoming the Tavern In the Town in the early 1990's and Butlers a few years later. These two pubs did away with the partitioning of the lower floors and created a lower floor with several levels, as seen today. A floor plan of the original building is shown below.  The first of the pictures below show Butlers in 2000 and the second in 2006. Note the way the windows were extended to street level on the second picture.   The inn was of some importance with regard to communications and travel. Three carrier services started at this pub in 1852. The central courtyard was probably connected to the road by an arch. Freemasons Lodge 98, met at the Golden Ball on the third Thursday of every month according to Besley (1828), who also states that the East Devon Military Lodge 272 met here on the third Wednesday of every month. Mary Archers street was once narrow and cobbled as shown in an Etching by Miss Hayman (1927), and appears to have been widened westwards during a road widening scheme after the war, resulting in the removal of this building and the construction of the present day building. Butlers closed in October 2007. Mosaic, which is a modern pub / eatery / club opened in these premises in January 2008. Mosaic fully utilizes all the floors of this building even the flat which once was art of the top floor, this is now the club. There are once again several bars on several different levels.  Stuart Callon Copyright ©2002-2008 |