The Prince of Wales Leighton Buzzard

 
The Prince of Wales about 1900 [Z1432/2/2/38]

The Prince of Wales Public House: 5 Hockliffe Road, Leighton Buzzard [previously the New Inn]

The countywide Return of Licensed Premises for 1876 states that the Prince of Wales was owned and occupied by George Bonham and that it was first licensed in 1851. This date of first licensing is not always accurate but this date seems reasonable. It would then have opened just before the Dolphin, almost next door in Hockliffe Road. When first opened the establishment was called the New Inn and was a beerhouse, changing its name in 1875. In 1876 it was still a beerhouse but by 1885 had become a fully-licensed public house. By the time of the countywide 1891 Return of Licensed Premises the Prince of Wales was owned by S. L. Seckham and Company of Northampton. This firm had actually became the Northampton Brewery Company in 1887. It is, therefore, likely that Northamptonshire Record Office will have archive material on the Prince of Wales which closed on the 12th January 1924.

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 5 Hockliffe Road [DV1/R80/55] discovered that the brick and tile terraced property was owned and occupied by Mrs. E. A. Janes and had become a dairy shop. The shop itself measured 11 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 6 inches; the ground floor also contained a sitting room measuring 12 feet by 14 feet and a kitchen measuring 12 feet by 10 feet. In the basement was the dairy measuring 12 feet by 14 feet and on the first floor three bedrooms measuring 12 feet by 14 feet, 12 feet by 10 feet and 9 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 6 inches; there was also a bathroom and W.C. and a sitting room measuring 12 feet by 15 feet 6 inches. Outside stood a brick and slate store measuring 13 feet by 24 feet, a W.C., a brick and thatch two storey stores with each floor measuring 13 feet by 18 feet and a washhouse. The valuer commented: "old fashioned bay shop front" and "old, fair repair".

The former Prince of Wales March 2009

References:

• PLLB4/1: notes first licence as 1851 without name or evidence: 1851;
• PSLB4/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessional Division: c.1860s-1949;
• PSLB4/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessional Division: c.1860s-1956;
• HN1/20-1-3: position shown on annotated Ordnance Survey maps compiled for licensing purposes: early 20th century
• PSLB4/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessional Division: 1922-1948  

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:

1876-1883: George Bonham;
1883-1890: George James;
1890-1895: William James;
1895-1916: John Blundell;
1916-1924: Albert Edward Jarrett

Public House closed 12th January 1924