The Plough & FurrowQuebec Street
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The Plough and Furrow opened on 14 March 1978 under the ownership of Bill Nightingal and Chris LeMoignan. Bill and Chris had moved to Dereham in 1975 and taken on the lease of the old Corn Exchange building which they operated as the CBA Cinema and the Lucky 'D' Bingo Club. The area to the rear and beneath the cinema and bingo club was once used as "The Tavern Bar", Bill and Chris decided to create a pub here. In order to extend the floor space tons of heavy compacted clay type soil had to be excavated by hand. The resulting pub was decorated "Tudor-style".
The first manager was Harry (The Lung) Lever, so called because he was a diving instructor. He was followed by Peter Chambers, Mark Blows and Phil Ward. Bill Nightingal died in 1979 and Chris LeMoignan in 1993. On Chris,s death the company passed, by will, to Joanne Cross, Mark Blows and Martin Morrell. In time both Mark and Martin left leaving Joanne in charge (1994). The Plough and Furrow has always been aa innovative pub popular with younger clientele. It was the first pub in Dereham to to have a permanent disco and lighting rig, and the first to have a 5 foot projection TV screen. Extracted from: A History of the Corn Exchange East Dereham 1857 - 1994 By Phil Ward See the full version |