In the summer of 1864, the mayor of Oxford received a petition containing no fewer than 65 signatures.

Residents were making a “complaint of public nuisance” against the Wellington Public House, in Cornmarket Street.

The Wellington pub had long attracted rogues and prostitutes. Penniless vagrants were arrested for stealing from the till, and pickpockets went there to squander their stolen cash on “cheaply supplied drink”.

But since new landlord William Beatty had taken over the pub in February 1863, it had taken a turn for the worse. Residents demanded that Beatty be shut down.

A hearing was arranged that autumn. First up to the witness stand was William Summersford, the pub’s next-door neighbour.

Summersford had obsessively kept a diary since January 1.

On September 1, he reported “seven prostitutes going in within 15 minutes”.

Two days later he heard “great amounts of disgusting language, music and stamping of feet” by an estimated 150 people. In the midst of all this two men “committed a nuisance” up against his wall.

Alfred Mowbray who lived opposite said prostitutes regularly surrounded the door. “Screaming” could be heard until midnight .

Beatty’s family had suffered a tragedy when their young son, using the privy at a children’s party, had fallen into the river and drowned.

In his defence Beatty said prostitutes did come into the pub but never got further than the bar. Furthermore – though I find this incredible – in the 18 months since taking over The Wellington he had “only witnessed drunkenness on two occasions”.

Beatty’s licence was revoked for a month. Neighbours continued their campaign.

“Would you like to take your wife to the Wellington Inn after 8 o’clock at night?” wrote one man. “Would you dare to allow your daughter to sit there for 60 minutes?”

It was alleged that the police were turning a blind eye to the goings on.

They weren’t. At midnight in January 1869, a policeman reported seeing 17 prostitutes and four convicted thieves pouring out of the pub.

Another local copper, Pc Mott, was determined to put a stop to the “absolutely unendurable” nightly disturbances.

He arrested prostitutes Martha Wheeler and Ellen Williams, two of the Wellington’s locals for brawling in New Road at 1am.

Each was sentenced to seven days imprisonment with hard labour. Two further locals suffered the same fate for using “obscene language” in Queen Street.

So what happened to the Wellington pub? It was gentrified in 1871, the year before Beatty’s death. If you wish to visit this former den of rogues and prostitutes you can. Take a stroll along Cornmarket Street and it’s still there – known for many years now as The Crown Inn.