Seven Stars () is an historic

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

on Thomas Lane,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

; it was built in the 17th century and is a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. One of the earliest references to the pub is in the Bristol Record Office. It mentions Sir John Hawkins who, whilst buying what was to become the Georges Brewery, acquired the lease in 1694 from the Saunders family brewing dynasty "...a half tenement, the sign of the Seven Stars, St Thomas Lane". "Michael Jaine, victualler" held "The Starrs" "in accordance with his father's will" in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Michael Jayne was the son of William Jayne of St. Thomas, innholder, who died in 1666. Abraham Sanders married Margaret Jayne, daughter of William Jayne, and Abraham Sanders was the administrator of William's will. Michael Jayne, innholder of St. Thomas, was deceased by 1672, when an inventory of his estate was taken. There has been no record found as to how the property transferred to Abraham Saunders after Michael's death. Abraham Saunders "late of the city of Bristol" died in 1690 and his son Anthony transferred the property to John Hawkins in 1694. It is now noted for its association with the

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

, who visited in 1787 and used the pub and its sympathetic landlord, Thompson, as a base for his researches into Bristol's "honourable trade" of slavery.

References

{{Culture in Bristol Commercial buildings completed in the 18th century Grade II listed pubs in Bristol Pubs in Gloucestershire