Old Coach House Hotel

Old Coach House Hotel: 12-13 Market Square, Potton [previously Rose & Crown Public House, then Hotel]

Old Coach House Mar 2007

This property seems to have been in existence by 1786 when an agreement refers to a house to be built north and west of it. It was then owned by William Fowler, a St.Neots brewer. This is supported by Department of Environment's architect who, when the building was Grade II listed in 1966 (when it was still the Rose & Crown Public House), described it as 18th century with 19th century reworkings. Fowler's brewery was purchased by John Day of Bedford in 1814 and continued to brew in St.Neots until that firm was taken over by Biggleswade brewers Wells & Winch in 1920. Wells & Winch merged with Suffolk brewers Greene King in 1961, becoming Greene King (Biggleswade) in 1963, the reference in the title to Biggleswade being dropped in 1990. Ownership of the premises (as opposed to the business) seems to have gone from William and George Fowler to William Deaves of Gamlingay and then Edward Mackenzie Harrison who was also the licensee. He was followed by another long term owner/occupier in William Henry Fowler.

 

Rose & Crown Hotel letterhead, c.1911 [X704/92/29]

The premises was surveyed in 1927 under the Rating Valuation Act of 1925. The valuer noted that it was a hotel and that the owner/occupier had been there 35 years. Business was "not so good as it was". The premises, which was "old in fair condition" consisted of 3 letting bedrooms, 5 other bedrooms in use and a bathroom and wc upstairs. Below were a coffee room, commercial room, bar, kitchen and scullery. Beneath was a cellar, large assembly room and harness room; outside were an 18 stall barn with a loft over, a four car garage, a store ("all practically disused") and a garden. In the yard stood a workshop occupied by William Leonard Cracknell, a coachbuilder, as well as a potato store and six buildings occupied by a man named Cheetum as a small farm.

References:
- AD2879: agreement by William Fowler to build a house for Henry Verrall, surgeon and apothecary in Potton south and east of Rose & Crown: 1786;
- AD2880: lease by William Fowler to Henry Verrall of above premises for 21 years: 1788;
- CD842: conveyance by William and George Fowler to Henry Smith of small piece of Rose & Crown farmyard: 1801;
- P64/5/1-4: bills from public house: C19;
- X744/56: Tithe Commissioners to meet at the inn: 1814;
- X744/45: letter sent from inn: 1815;
- CLP13: Register of Alehouse Licenses: 1822-1828;
- LS178: auction sale of land held at inn: 1833;
- HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
- HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
- HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
- HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
- HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
- X758/1/8/51: poor photograph of horse fair and public house: 1894;
- Z723/100/48: bill to Alfred Ginn, forage contractor: 1895;
- HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
- PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
- X758/1/17/36: photograph of steam engine pulling log carriers: c.1910;
- X704/92/29: billhead: c.1911;
- LS690: auction sale of land held at inn: 1916;
- Bedfordshire Inns & Pubs in Old Postcards, pl.33: 1920s;
- X704/281: negative: c.1920s;
- X758/1/9/142: Potton Angling Association dinner at public house: 1938;
- PSBW8/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1956-1972;
- Z851/8/9: photograph of Market Square with public house in background: 1959;
- PSBW8/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade and North Bedfordshire Petty Sessional Divisions: 1976-1980.

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:
1822-1824: John Harris;
1828-1839: David Compton;
1850: Henry Powell;
1853: John Tyler;
1861-1862: Joseph Wilks;
1864-1869: Ellis Miller (& saddler)
1872-1891: Edward Mackenzie Harrison;
1891-1931: William Henry Fowler;
1936: William John Lovell
1940: Stanley Bennett
1957-1958: Albert Edward Diss;
1958-1959: Charles Dewis Mills;
1959-1979: Peter John Charles Simmonite