THE PUB · THE VILLAGE · THE AIRFIELD

A local with a story.

Good pubs are about more than what’s in the glass. At the Fenton Flyer, our story brings together village life and the aviation heritage of Church Fenton.

1937RAF Church Fenton opens

2013RAF operations end

2015Leeds East Airport begins

Before the Flyer: the New Inn

Before it became the Fenton Flyer, the pub was called the New Inn — a name recorded in both the Leeds Pub Project and Church Fenton’s local-history research.[1,2]

Anne Herbert’s account of Kirk Fenton in 1841 describes the stretch of today’s Main Street from Lockton House towards the New Inn as Robin Hood Street. Lockton House was once the Robin Hood Inn — a different pub, not an earlier name for the Flyer.[2]

The exact date our building first became a licensed pub is still being researched. We’d rather leave a little mystery than put the wrong birthday on the cake.

Rooted in village life

Church Fenton appears in the Domesday Book as Fentun, with Kirk Fenton recorded in 1338. Its name reflects a settlement in the surrounding fen or marshland.[3]

Farming was central to village life: the local study of the 1841 census records 25 farmers and 59 agricultural labourers.[2] Railway development brought another chapter, with a line to Harrogate in 1847 and a connection from Leeds in 1869.[3]

From fields and railways to aviation, Church Fenton has never been short of a story to tell.

Why “Fenton Flyer”?

The name celebrates the nearby airfield and its RAF connections. A CAMRA report from 2013 described the pub’s aviation memorabilia, including items associated with 72 Squadron, and linked the Flyer name to that heritage.[4]

Ian Herbert’s RAF Church Fenton history website also credits the pub with lending photographs of the airfield in the 1950s for scanning and preservation.[5] A tangible link between our local and the station’s memories.

The airfield on our doorstep

RAF Church Fenton opened in 1937. During the Second World War, its fighter squadrons helped defend Yorkshire and the industrial North, flying aircraft including Hurricanes, Spitfires and Defiants.[6]

After the war came the jet age and a long association with flying training. RAF operations ended in 2013, and the airfield began its next chapter as Leeds East Airport in 2015.[6]

Its purpose has changed, but aviation remains part of Church Fenton’s identity — and the story behind our name.

Do you remember when…?

Remember the New Inn? Got an old photograph, a former landlord’s name, or a family story about the pub and the airfield? Please speak to us at the pub — and let us know whether you’re happy for your contribution to be shared.

The best local history is often sitting right across the bar.

Sources & further reading
  1. Leeds Pub Project — entry 24.05, formerly New Inn.
  2. Anne Herbert: Kirk Fenton 1841 — Church Fenton Community Hub, pages 2–3.
  3. Church Fenton Community Website: A Brief History — Frank Dean and Andy Barker.
  4. York CAMRA: Ouse Boozer, Spring 2013 — printed page 11.
  5. RAF Church Fenton: 1946–1959 photographs — independent history website, Fenton Flyer collection.
  6. Leeds East Airport: From Fighter Planes to Feature Films.