ABOUT US
Our traditional pub situated in Newton is the oldest pub in Porthcawl and features two bars, a wide selection of real ales, fine wines and great food served during the day and evening.
We also host regular entertainment including live music, charity events and quiz evenings.
One of the few pubs in Porthcawl that gives the warmest of welcome to man's best friend.
Enjoy our famous beer garden under the beautiful British sunshine.
THE SMUGGLERS OF THE JOLLY SAILOR:
THE TURPIN GANG
The Turpin brothers came from Lincolnshire. Frances Turpin was the landlord of the Jolly Sailor, which was an inn, grocers and blacksmith.
John Turpin was a sea captain who commanded a sailing sloop that ran their trade from South Wales to the coast of France, Portugal and Spain. Most of the inhabitants of the small hamlet of Newton were members of the Turpin gang.
They dug a tunnel from the Jolly Sailor under Newton Church to a pub on the beach by Newton Point called the Red House. The Turpin gang built the Red House from the stones of Newton beach.
Off Newton Point is a large flat rock, called Tusker Rock, where John Turpins sloop would tie up. They would land their cargo onto the rock, then long boat it to the shore, into the Red House and up to the Jolly Sailor. The cargo would then be
transported to Cardiff and sold.
When cargo was landed, John Turpin would come up from the Red House, climb the wall of Newton Church, where the yew tree is and look up to the window of the Jolly Sailor. If there was a red light in the window it indicated that there were boarders at the inn, and it was dangerous to approach.
The noise of men and barrels being rolled along the tunnel alerted the Vicar of Newton church, who, when he first heard these noises coming from under his church, thought his church was haunted.
The Vicar brought the noise to the attention of the Bishop, who in turn went to the authorities.
John Turpin was hanged at Cardiff. In those days if you were hanged, you landed up in a lime pit. Somehow the Turpin family managed to retrieve his body and bury him under the yew tree. His name was added to his family tomb long after his death.
In Newton there is a new tomb stone on the grave, which reads "Here lies the body of John Turpin, Mariner born in Lincolnshire (let no man move his body)".
It is said that he went to the gallows without betraying the rest of the gang.
It was the Turpins themselves who planted the yew tree. The yew is a mystical tree, it is the wood that made the long bow (the Welsh invented the long bow). The spirit of the green man is supposed to live in the tree.
The Turpins coming from Lincolnshire thought themselves to be the 'Robin Hoods' of their day, as they helped the poor of Newton.
Robin Hood dressed in Lincoln green and the Turpin gang really were men in Lincoln green.
A small crown garrison was established on Newton green, where Crown House now stands. The old building has long gone, but the name Crown House has lived on.