The White Horse Public House Husborne Crawley

The White Horse in the 1960s [WB/Flow4/5/HuC/WH1]

White Horse: 1 Mill Road, Husborne Crawley 

The earliest mention of the White Horse public house in archives held by Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service is in the countywide licensing register of 1822 when the tenant was Josiah Roote [CLP13]. In 1827 the White Horse was included in an inventory of the properties belonging to Ampthill brewers John and Joseph Morris [Z1027/1].

The White Horse was described as The White Horse, freehold public house, occupied by Josiah Denny Roote, with stabling for ten horses, a barn and a small cottage in the yard and ten acres of pasture land lying contiguous to the house. The White Horse continued to be owned by Morris until Morris & Company (Ampthill) Limited was bought out by J.W.Green Limited, the Luton brewer in 1926[CCE5304/3].

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. Husborne Crawley, like much of the county, was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting the White Horse [DV1/C53/100] found that the tenant, Henry Muller, paid rent of £18 per annum to J. W. Green Limited.

Private accommodation comprised a living room, a kitchen and a scullery with four bedrooms above. Public accommodation considted of a bar and a smoke room. A cellar ran udnerneath the ground floor.The valuer wrote: "Takings average about £11 per week. Barrelage averages 65 (36 gallons). Spirits average about 9 gallons per annum. Licence - £11 - full. Small trade in tobacco and confectionary. Landlord complains of bad trade. It has a considerable superfluity of bedrooms and buildings which he does not use. Landlord has shop adjoining which is vacant and disused". The other buildings comprised a slaughterhouse ("unlicensed"), a barn, a coachhouse, a store shed and a stable for a single horse.

A butcher's business had been run from the adjoining shop served by its slaughterhouse and previous tenants William and Lizzie Bunker had also been cattle dealers. This shop was used as an Air Raid Precautions Wardens during the Second World War [WW2/AR/C/2/234-240].

J. W. Green acquired various breweries thereafter including Flowers in 1954 and, although Greens were the principal partners, the Flowers name was that chosen to describe the new company formed from the merged companies. Flowers were, in turn, bought out by Whitbread in 1962. Whitbread sold its brewing concerns and public houses in 2001. The White Horse, at the time of writing [2006] remains a public house, owned by Enterprise Inns. Alterations were carried out in 1996 [PCHusborneCrawley18/6-7].

The White Horse in March 2007

References of Documents held by Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service

• CLP13: Register of Alehouse Recognizances: 1822-1828;
• Z1043/1: inventory of premises of John and Joseph Morris: 1827;
• X21/629: conveyance: 1828;
• WB/M/4/1/VP1: mortgage:1831;
• PSLB4/1: Register of Licences – Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessional Division: 1860s-1949;
• PSW3/1: Register of Licences – Woburn Petty Sessional Division: 1868-1949;
• WB/M/4/1/VP2: mortgage: 1882;
• HN10/271/Turney2: auction sale of property in Aspley Guise held at White Horse: 1887;
• SF32/11: valuation for probate:1893;
• CCE5034/1: conveyed, with other properties, to Morris & Company (Ampthill) Limited: 1907;
• CCE5304/3: conveyed, with other properties, to J.W.Green Limited: 1926;
• WB/M/4/2/1: mentioned on list of properties of Morris & Company (Ampthill) Limited: c.1926;
• WB/M/4/2/2: mentioned on list of properties of Morris & Company (Ampthill) Limited (licensee H.Muller): Jun 1926;
• WB/Green4/2/2: payments by J.W.Green Limited to landlords of various properties for premises, wayleaves etc.: 1927-1953
• WB/Green/6/4/1: J.W.Green Limited trade analysis ledger for various properties: 1936-1947;
• WB/Green4/2/4: Certificate of title of J.W.Green Limited to various properties: 1936-1952;
• WB/Green4/2/5: list of properties of J.W.Green Limited:c.1936;
• WW2/AR/C/2/234: Warden's Post in adjoining butcher's shop: 1944;
• WW2/AR/C/2/240: warden's Post in adjoining butcher's shop: 1944;
• WB/Green4/2/10: schedule of deeds to various properties owned by J.W.Green Limited: c.1949;
• PSW3/2: Register of Licences – Woburn Petty Sessional Division: 1949-1953;
• Z1105/1: Liquor Licence Traders Survey Form: 1951;
• WB/Green4/2/16: list pf properties owned by J.W.Green Limited: 24 Jul 1952;
• WB/Green4/2/17: Second schedule of trust deed showing properties owned by J.W.Green Limited: 1952;
• WB/Green4/2/19: lists of properties owned by J.W.Green Limited: 1954;
• WB/Flow4/5/HuC/WH1-3: Photographs taken for Flowers Breweries Limited: 1960s;
• PSA5/5: licensing register - Ampthill Petty Sessional Division: 1968-1995;
• PCHusborneCrawley30/1: transfer of licensees: 1995;
• PCHusborneCrawley18/6: application for a single storey extension;
• PCHusborneCrawley18/7: permission for demolition of garage and toilet block.

• Licencees: note that this is not a complete list and that dates in italics are not necessarily beginning or end dates, merely the first/last date which can be confirmed from sources such as directories and deeds:
  1822-1828: Josiah Denny Roote;
  1847: James Beaumont;
  1850: George Negus;
  1853-1878: Thomas Payne;
  1878-1881: John Thomas Bateman;
  1881-1893: William Bunker (also cattle dealer - d.1893);
  1893-1905: Mrs.Lizzie Bunker (also cattle dealer);
  1905-1910: Frederic Denton;
  1910-1913: Herbert Watson;
  1913-1915: Mrs.Rose Watson;
  1915-1923: Thomas Dilly;
  1923-1938: Henry Muller;
  1938-1941: John Ralph Gilbert;
  1941-1949: Albert Edward Cooper;
  1949-1975: Norman Alexander James Cordeaux Burley;
  1975-1976: Doris Annie Burley;
  1976-1978: George Frederick Greener;
  1978-1981: Barrie Irving Boult;
  1981-1983: Graham Charles Wickert;
  1983-1992: Christopher Kenneth Woodward;
  1992: Simon Richard Marshall-Jones
  1992-1993: Simon Richard Marshall-Jones and Patrick B.Thompson;
  1993-1994: Simon Richard Marshall-Jones;
  1994-1995: Robert Thomas Berry;
  1995-1996: John Patrick Curry and Angela Maria Lamb

  
  The White Horse  January 2011