The Travellers Rest Leighton Buzzard
The Travellers Rest Public House: 171-173 Heath Road, Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has no records for this public house other than licensing records. The countywide Return of Licensed Premises for 1876 noted that the owner was Charles Ridgeway of Heath and Reach, the leaseholders Ashdown & Brothers of Leighton Buzzard who leased Procter's Brewery in the High Street. The return states that the house was first licensed in 1840 although such statements are not always accurate.
Ridgeway was dead by 1891 when his trustees were listed as owners. The place began as a beerhouse but is listed in Kelly's Directory for 1940 as a public house. The Travellers Rest was owned by Benskins Watford Brewery which was bought out by Ind Coope in 1957. Ind Coope merging with competitors to form Allied Breweries in 1959.
The Travellers Rest closed for the last time on 9th December 1970. It was demolished in November 1975 and replaced by two detached houses.
References:
- PSLB4/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessional Division: c.1860s-1949;
- PSLB4/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessional Division: 1922-1948;
- PSLB4/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessional Division: c.1860s-1956
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: Thomas Reeve;
1886: Thomas Pratt;
1918: Sarah Ann Pratt;
1920: Frank Harris;
1949: Arthur George Adams;
1958: Edward Richard Cook;
1970: John Kaye
Public house closed 9th December 1970, demolished November 1975.