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The Old House at Home was located on the canal side in an area known as Pye Bridge Meadows. It is not known when the inn was built, but it probably dated back to the earliest days of the canal in the late 1790s. It was built solely to serve the barge workers as they plied their trade along that part of the Cromford Canal, as, other than a track, there was no road either leading to or past the premises.  It also probably picked up trade from people walking along the canal tow path from both Pye Bridge and Pinxton.

The name of this public house – “Old House at Home” – is not uncommon. There were at least two others in Derbyshire, one of which was at Largess Street, Derby.

In the early days it would no doubt have flourished. Possibly due to its location there appears to be very few records for the Old House At Home until the second half of the 19th century. By this time the railway had arrived at Pye Bridge and had already started to take much of the traffic that had originally been shipped on the canal. One of the earliest references relates to a Coroner’s Inquest, held for a drowning in the canal which was published in April 1862. In the report, it was referred to as the “Old House at Home Beer Shop”. Most of the instances in local newspapers were the Old House at Home is named, relate to accidents and drownings in the Cromford Canal, of which there seems to be many. The landlord or customers of the public house were often called as witnesses, and several Coroner’s Inquests were held there.

A notice for an auction for the premises was printed in the Derbyshire Advertiser & Journal on 29th October 1880. The details read: “AT SOMERCOTES AND PYE BRIDGE – LOT IX – All that Public House known as “The Old House At Home” with the Brewhouse, extensive stabling, cowsheds, piggeries, garden, orchard and appurtenances thereto, bordering upon the Cromford Canal, and in close proximity to the Pye Bridge Stations of the Midland and Great Northern Railways”. The notice for the auction implies that the premises and land were extensive.

By the dawn of the 20th century the public house was already around one hundred years old. Its clientele had changed and at least for a while it began to have a declining reputation. Newspaper reports list many instances where the landlord or customers were fined for gambling or drinking outside the permitted hours of opening or in breach of its licence. Business, however, seems to have carried on. The Derbyshire Times & Chesterfield Herald of 18th February 1903 records a transfer of the licensee of the Old House at Home “...from Charles Wass to Harry Dawkes…”

PHOTO: Photograph of the Old House at Home, date unknown

Through newspaper articles it is possible to ascertain some of the later landlords:

5. 1876 - Charles Naylor
5. 1903 - Charles Wass
5. 1903 - Harry Dawkes (Harry was still the landlord in 1911)
5. 1930 - Leonard Waller (Leonard remained the landlord until its closure)

Although the Old House at Home is often described as “between Pinxton and Pye Bridge”, its actual location within the boundary of the village can be seen by a notice printed in the Derbyshire Courier dated 10th December 1912, which related to a contract for Scavenging (at the time a bona fide vocation). The notice read “ALFRETON URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL – CONTRACT FOR SCAVENGING – The Alfreton Urban District Council are prepared to receive tenders for SCAVENGING by contract for the undermentioned district, viz: No. 4 from Somercotes Market Place on one side and the “Devonshire Arms” P.H. on the other side, including all properties from there to Pye Bridge Wood Yard on both sides of the road and the “Old House at Home” P.H. and the whole of Quarry Road, Somercotes…”

In later years the canal traffic became non-existent and fewer customers found their way to the Old House At Home. By the mid-20th century the building had become unfit for purpose and habitation. The Chief Sanitary Inspector, in his Annual Report for 1954 to the Alfreton Urban District Council wrote:  “April 1954 saw the passing of the Old House at Home, Pye Bridge, the 200 years old ‘bargee house’ on the tow-path of the Cromford-Pinxton Canal. The Police requested me to inspect and report, as they considered the premises ought to be closed on the grounds of redundancy and poor standard of accommodation provided both from the point of the licensee and the public. I was accordingly requested to give evidence at the Brewster Sessions. The objection by the Police to the renewal of the licence was accordingly upheld. Following my report to my council, a Demolition Order was placed on the property and the licensee is to be rehoused early in 1955.”

There are several articles in local newspapers on the closing of this public house. The Ripley & Heanor News, published on 19th February 1954 wrote: “200-YEAR-OLD PYE BRIDGE INN REDUNDANT - Objection by Supt. J. Davies to the renewal of the licence of the 200-year-old inn, the "Old House at Home," Pye Bridge - described as an old bargee house and not the kind of place anybody would find unless they knew of its existence - on the grounds of redundancy, was upheld at Alfreton Licensing Sessions, on Wednesday last week. Sir George Kenning, presiding, told the 70-year-old licensee, Mr. Leonard Waller, that the committee would refer the case to the compensation authority.”

The same newspaper reported on the actual closure, when, on Sunday 4th April 1954 the Old House At Home closed its doors for the final time: “THE LAST DRINK AT PYE BRIDGE INN – The last customer had his last drink last Sunday at the Old House at Home, a centuries old inn beside the Cromford Canal at Pye Bridge. The inn, built to serve canal boatmen when the canal was crowded, now attracts so few patrons that the Magistrates refused to renew the licence which expired last Sunday.”

The building was demolished, and all traces were finally erased by the Smotherfly Opencast.