3 High Street Leighton Buzzard - The Albion Hotel

 
Number 3 High Street in June 2008

A project called Our High Street Revisited 1819-2000 by Leighton-Linslade Local History Research Group [CRT130Lei58] aimed to use directories and census records to try to establish as full a history of use of the buildings in the High Street as possible. The results for Number 3 were as follows:

• 1819: owner/occupier W. Exton;
• 1841: house of Thomas Evans;
• 1851: house of Bernard Whishaw;
• 1861: Charles Ridgway, draper;
• 1871: house of Sarah Flint;
• 1875: Beech House, home of Arthur Macnamara;
• 1881-1894: house of John Tindall;
• 1903: Albion Temperance Hotel (Thomas Reed); Durrells Drug Store; J. T. Hoare, dentist;
• 1914: Albion Temperance Hotel (Mrs. Burroughs); Durrells Drug Store; J. T. Hoare, dentist;
• 1936: Albion Temperance Hotel (Mrs. Mary Burroughs); Durrells Drug Store; Misses Cook, confectioner;
• 1940: Albion Temperance Hotel (Norton Burroughs); Durrells Drug Store; Miss Cook, confectioner;
• 1965: Pascal, ladies' hairdresser; Derek H. Redfern, optician;
• 1972: Austin Carnley, solicitors; E.& P. Bowen, tobacconist; Derek H. Redfern, optician;
• 1986: Austin Carnley, solicitors; Hair by Hathaway; Derek H. Redfern, optician;
• 2000: Austin Carnley, solicitors; Radiant Health Clinic; Derek H. Redfern, optician;
• 2008: Austin Carnley, solicitors; Ann's Bridal Room; Derek H. Redfern, optician

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service does not have any deeds for the property making it difficult to judge the age. 3 High Street has not been listed and it is not possible to say with any certainty whether the house occupied by W. Exton in 1819 is the same as the current building or whether the early 19th century dwelling was either demolished at some point and a new property built on the site, or whether it was ever substantially altered.

The first reference to the Albion Temperance Hotel occupying the building is in a directory of 1903, when the proprietor was Thomas Reed. Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a postcard sent in 1907 [Z465/16] which reads "I thought you would like this view of your favourite garden. The girls in the background are nothing but doubtless you will recognize the dog in the front. Hope you will be coming again before very long. Thanks for p.c. [postcard] it is quite a favourite view of mine. Hoping you are well. Floss" The two girls, who were nothing, apparently, were probably Dorothy and Lena, aged 14 and 12 respectively at the time of the 1901 census, daughters of the owner, Thomas Reed; they were both born in Eastbourne [Sussex]. Floss is unidentified.

 
Albion Hotel gardens about 1907 [Z465/16]

Under the terms of the Rating and Valuation Act 1925 every piece of land and building in the country was assessed to determine the rates to be paid on them. Leighton Buzzard was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting 3 High Street [DV1/R56/84] noted that it was owned and occupied by Mrs. Mary Ellen Burroughs and, as befits a temperance hotel, it was unlicensed. accommodation comprised:

• in the basement: two cellars used as stores etc ("damp liable to flood");
• on the ground floor: an entrance hall; a commercial room; a sitting room; a coffee room; a pantry; a larder; a kitchen; a scullery; an office and a private sitting room;
• on the first floor: a sitting room measuring 13 feet by 16 feet; a writing room measuring 11 feet by 16 feet; three bedrooms measuring 9 feet by 16 feet, 14 feet by 16 feet and 11 feet by 16 feet; three single bedrooms; a double bedroom; a housemaid's pantry; a W.C.; a bathroom;  four more single bedrooms (making a total of eleven on the floor) and a sitting room;
• on the second floor: an attic bedroom; two staff bedrooms; a bathroom and W.C.; a linen cupboard; five single bedrooms; two more attic bedrooms (making a total of eight on the floor, excluding the two staff bedrooms) and a "lean-to"' boxroom;
• outside: old brick and slate stabling; a coachhouse "used as garage for 3 cars"; a three stall stable ("not used") with a loft over; a "large" garden and a tennis court ("very little use").

The balance sheet account for 1926 showed £2,000 receipts and £1,400 expenditure. In 1940 the R.A.F. took over the Albion Hotel and, when they relinquished control in 1945, a list of rooms was drawn up to settle a claim for dilapidations as a result of occupation. The claim detailed the following rooms: sixteen bedrooms; two bathrooms; a bathroom with W.C.; two separate W.C.'s; a store room; two sitting rooms; a housemaid's closet; three attics; two halls; a breakfast room; a dining room; a lounge; a pantry; a larder; a kitchen; a scullery; a back hall; a maid's store room and cellars. The outside was listed as a slate yard, a coal refuse, a stand pipe, a garden, a small lawn, a dugout, a vegetable garden, a tennis lawn and pleasure garden, a rockery, a sundial and a garden seat.

 
Ground plan of the Albion Hotel 1946 [BML10/42/434]

The Albion Hotel continued to appear in telephone directories into the 1950s, but does not appear in the directory for 1958, which suggests that it closed around about 1957.  At the time of writing [2009] part of the building is still occupied by Derek H. Redfern, the optician, the business having been there for over forty years.