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Picture source: Eddie Dexter

The Fountain Inn was situated at 23 Bridlesmith Gate. This pub opened c1962, closed in 1999 and is now in retail use.

Source: Stephen Heasell

I was the Home Brewery Area Manager responsible for The Fountain in about 1990. The brewery had recently been taken over by Scottish & Newcastle who had decided to pour a lot of money into the criminally neglected pub estate. Despite a terribly degraded interior, The Fountain sold the most beer of any of Home Brewery’s pubs, and was just about the top “circuit” pub in the city centre. The brewery’s Development Manager with all the money to spend had earmarked The Fountain to be expensively turned into a fine dining experience, but I managed to persuade the top brass otherwise, and spent a modest amount aimed at retaining its position as a lively boozer for the younger clientele. I introduced the absolute latest state-of-the-art technology: video jukebox!!!! – and it worked. Talk about packed pubs? You couldn’t get in the place! I left the company not long afterwards, but I suspect that if the pub didn’t get continuous re-investment it might have gone down rapidly within a couple of years of my refurb.

Philip Raistrick (April 2015)

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Name	Dates	Comments
Thomas Barrett	1976	Used to play for their football team.
Martin Briggs	1998/1999	I was the last publican of the fountain Inn on bridlesmith gate and closed the venue in 1999 at the time I worked for Scottish and Newcastle retail and they sold the site for 3 million pounds to a company who turned it into 2 retail units. A great place for forest lads to meet before making their way down to the city ground. Some good lads met there. Scottish and Newcastle couldn't build on the site so sold it to put money into new bigger venue

Other Photos
Date of photo: 1994	Picture source: Eddie Dexter
Date of photo: 2012	Picture source: Darkstar
Date of photo: 2022	Picture source: Anthony Beaumont