The Safety Valve

The Safety Valve

Forncett railway station was opened in 1849 when Norwich and Ipswich were connected by the Eastern Union Railway. In 1851 the Railway Inn public house was built on the station approach road: it was renamed The Safety Valve in 1861. 

The Safety Valve - date unknown
The Safety Valve - date unknown

The known licensees were:

          James Harvey 1851-1864

          John Waters 1865-1879

          Robert Keeler 1881-1903

          Lemon Keeler 1903-1913

          William Rice 1915

          William John Golden 1916

          George Harry Young 1922-1939

          Robert Lemon Keeler 1940-1945

The first publican of the Railway Inn was James Harvey, son of Canham Harvey who ran the Chequers PH in Forncett St Mary from 1836 to 1850. The 1861 census for Forncett records that James Harvey was both the publican and a coal merchant who employed two local men. When James Harvey left the pub in 1864 he and his family moved to Ousden in Suffolk where he was farm bailiff at Lord's Lane Farm.

Three generations of the Keeler family served as publicans at the Safety Valve between 1881 and 1945. Licensees often had other occupations as well as running the pub. Robert Keeler Snr. was a coal, coke and oats merchant. Lemon Keeler was likewise a coal agent as well as being a general carrier and cab proprietor.

The Safety Valve, 1912-1913?
The Safety Valve, 1912-1913?

Lemon Keeler was probably the first to set up a taxi service in Forncett. Production of Model T Fords started in the UK in about 1912 and Lemon Keeler obviously saw the potential of motorised transport. When he left the Safety Valve in 1913 he continued in the motor trade. 

The provision of car hire from the Safety Valve was continued by a later publican, George Young.

The pub features in Alan Womack's reminiscences of Forncett during the 1940s (published by Forncett History Group in 2012).

"The Safety Valve was kept by Bob and "Aunty" Keeler. We used to play darts for the pub, going by coach, driven by Alec Webster from Harvey and Duffields in Long Stratton, or Jimmy Baxter, and would go to pubs for miles around. Places I remember we went to were Oakley, Banham, Kenninghall, Loddon and Diss. Aunty (Keeler) always bought the first round on arrival; a raffle on the coach was usually for 40 fags. A sing-song on the return journey was led by Walter Manser who lived just into Wash Lane."

Bob & Ada Keeler, 1940
Bob & Ada Keeler, 1940

The Safety Valve closed on 3rd December 1970 and was later demolished.