The Chequers High Street Bedford

The Chequers Inn: 58 High Street, Bedford

The Chequers in about 1865 [X373/49]

The inn stood next to the old County Gaol, where John Bunyan served his terms of imprisonment (1660 to 1672 and 1677). The gaol had stood here since at least 1603 and it is likely that The Chequers also dated from at least the 1600s. The first reference reported of The Chequers is in a deed of 1701, which is described in the Bedfordshire Times of the 11^th March 1921. This tells us that by August 1701 the messuage ‘commonly called by the sign of the Chequers near the County Gaol’, belonged to John Richardson, innkeeper. In 1711 John Richardson was appointed as keeper of the gaol. This was an unsalaried position where money was made by charging the prisoners. Being an innkeeper as well as the gaol keeper had the advantage of being able to supply food and drink to any of the prisoners who could afford to pay for it. From 1711 to 1814 John Richardson’s family and descendants would fill the post of jailer for some 70 years, the last fifty of them without a break. Although they did not all live at The Chequers, the inn remained in the family’s ownership throughout that time.

In his will of 1716 John Richardson left The Chequers to his wife, Dinah, and his daughter, Judith for their lives and then to his son John [ABP/W1719/22]. John Richardson the younger served as jailer in 1724, 1729 and 1730 when he died. His sister Judith was still living and in 1739, when Judith surrendered The Chequers to her other brother Thomas, the inn was described as occupied by John’s widow, Mary Richardson. Thomas, who may have lived at The George and have had other businesses, was appointed jailer in 1739 and held the post on and off for thirty years during which time The Chequers seems to have passed to the descendants of his other sister, Mary, who had married a man named William Howard.  

The Borough Quarter Sessions Rolls for 1751 [Ref QSR1751B/42] show James Howard as the licensee of an ale house called The Chequers in an unspecified location. There were three Chequers in Bedford at the time - the one in Saint Mary's was run by John Crouch and the one in Saint John's was licensed to Frances Williamson, which means James Howard’s was almost certainly the one in the High Street. James Howard was the son of Mary and William Howard and he took over as jailer from his uncle Thomas Richardson in 1769. James died in 1770 and was succeeded by his nephew Thomas Howard. In 1784 The Chequers passed to this Thomas’ brother, John Moore Howard, who also took over as jailer.

A new county gaol was built in St Loyes in 1801 and the old gaol next to The Chequers was demolished. This left the south side of the The Chequers exposed and may have prompted alterations to the property; in 1803 John Moore Howard paid £25 11s 4d for redemption of land tax on ‘the messuage or public house called The Chequers (divided into two tenements)’.

In 1819 John Moore Howard, yeoman, mortgaged the property to Daniel Pressland. The Chequers was then in the occupation of John Stennett and the adjoining tenement was occupied by James Rawlins. This deed also tells us that the ‘two tenements were formerly one known by the sign of the Chequers and formerly occupied by Anthony Peacock and Edward Griffen.’

The last deed to be mentioned in the newspaper article of 1921 is a lease of 1823 whereby John Moore Howard conveyed to John Izard Pryor of Baldock ‘the Chequers licensed victualling house bounded on the south partly by the butter market and on the north by a property of Charles Evans; the adjoining tenement in the occupation of Thomas Rawlins’.

The licensing records of 1822 to 1828 [CLP13] and the 1840s [PSBB1/1] show us that John Stennett was succeed by William Purvis and then by John Hudson. From a newspaper announcement in the Beds Mercury of 24 November 1849 we know that the wife of Walter Percival Shirley, Chequers Inn, High Street, was delivered of a son. Walter Shirley died in 1855 but his widow, Ann, carried on as publican and was still at The Chequers with her son Thomas at the time of the1861 census.

The Baldock Brewery was sold in 1853-1854 by Maurice Pryor to Joseph Simpson - the Chequers was one of the tied houses included in the sale [our ref: CRT110/102; the archives of the Simpson and the Baldock Brewery are held by Hertfordshire Archives].

 
The Chequers after 1887 [X373/50]

The Chequers closed on the 30^th September 1911 and Simpson and Company sold the premises and it, along with Number 60 next door, was converted into the Picture Palace cinema. By early 1921 the cinema had been bought by Blake Brothers, who already owned another cinema in the town, the deeds to the property came into their possession and led to the article in the Bedfordshire Times that gives us the early history of the property.

Palace Cinema the week it closed down in 1936 [X373/51]

The Palace cinema closed on the 22^nd March 1936. The building known as Palace Chambers with a parade of shops on the ground floor was built for Prices Tailors Limited whose subsidiary Colliers the tailors occupied the site until the latter part of the 20th century.

References

• QSR1751/42: alehouse recognizances at Borough Quarter Sessions: 1751;
• Bedfordshire Magazine xiv p.255 article about the last gaoler connected to The Chequers;
• CLP13: alehouse licences: 1822-1828;
• PSBB1/1: licensee John Hudson on petty sessions ledger: 1840-1844;
• CRT110/102: agreement for sale of Baldock Brewery and licensed premises from Morris Pryor to Joseph Simpson at Hertfordshire Record Office: 1853-1854;
• CRT110/102: abstract of title of John Pryor deceased to Baldock Brewery and licensed houses at Hertfordshire Record Office: 1853;
• X373/49: exterior photograph: c.1865;
• BorBP1762/1-7: building plans: 1887;
• X373/50: exterior photograph after rebuilding: c.1887;
• RR15/44, Z720/211/3 and Z938/7/1/22: auction sale particulars noting (incorrectly) that public house was on site of C17th gaol: 1911;
• Z720/211 J R Eve (acting on behalf of the vendor) for the sale of the Bedford Picture Palace, 1906-11 including:
• Z720/211/1: inventory of fixtures etc.: 1906;
• Z720/211/2: correspondence between Simpson & Company's agent and purchaser's agent: 1910-1911;
• Z720/211/4: plan and photograph of public house: 1911(another copy at WG2614);
• Z720/211/5: sale poster: 1911;
• Z720/211/7: inventory of tenant's fixtures: 1911;
• Z720/211/8: correspondence regarding an offer for the premises: 1911;
• Z720/211/11: lease of Chequers and neighbouring shop: 1911;
• Z938/7/1/22: McConnells file regarding the sale of Bedford Picture Palace and leasing of Number 60 (acting on the part of the buyer), includes plan of site, showing High Street and Silver Street: 1911-1912
• BorBP5517 building plan Bedford Palace Cinema, High Street, Bedford for Messrs. Felce & Warner. Architect - J H Fenning, 1911;
• Bedfordshire Times 11^th March 1

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list; entries in italics refer to licensees where either beginning or end, or both, dates are not known:

1751: James Howard or Frances Williamson: 1751;
1822-1823: John Stennett;
1823: William Purvis;
1823-1847: John Hudson;
1850-1854: Walter Percival Shelley or Sherley;
1861-1862: Ann Shirley or Sherley;
1864: John Smith;
1869: Eliza Smith;
1876-77: Samuel Sculthorp;1881: Thomas Watts [Thomas and his two sisters appear on the 1881 census at The Chequers. Thomas was the son of Jesse Watts who on the 1881 census was residing at another pub at 35 Patteshall Street but who may have been the licensee for The Chequers with Thomas managing it on his father’s behalf].
1887 premises rebuilt
1887-1900: Jesse Watts; [By 1887 Jesse is named as licensee and in 1891 Jesse, his wife Martha and son Thomas are all at The Chequers and all give their occupation as publican. Thomas died on the 26^th May 1900 at his home in Howbury Street; his father had retired to Clapham prior to his son’s death (Beds Times 1^st June 1900 page 8 Col 3)]. 
1900-1906: John Blurton Armstrong;
1906: Elizabeth Armstrong;
1906-1908: John James Auld;
1908-1911: Elizabeth Nursey Fowler [convicted of permitting drunkenness on 25 Jun 1910 and fined 32 with 15/- costs; cautioned for allowing people       on the premises after closing time on 7 Feb 1911];
1911: Francis Edward Robert Brigham;

Public house closed 30th September 1911 and demolished to make way for Picture Palace