The Hare and Hounds Public House Old Warden

Hare and Hounds about 1900 [X758/1/12/90]

Hare and Hounds Public House, High Street, Old Warden

The Hare and Hounds is now the only public house in Old Warden. It was previously called the Crown and the first reference to it is in a deed of 1792 where, with the rest of the estate, it was better assured to the family by means of a common recovery. By 1822 the Crown had become the Hare and Hounds. It formed part of the Old Warden Estate and in 1872 the estate was sold by the 3rd Baron Ongley to Joseph Shuttleworth. At that time the public house was described as: "The ‘Hare & Hounds’ public house, situate in the centre of the village. Of neat elevation, with circular dormer windows and Porch Entrance, and containing four best bed rooms, bar, large dining room, tap room and parlour, good kitchen, large cellar, with out-house in the rear, and a small timber built and tiled Barn, with cart shed and onion loft. A range of capital brick-built and tiled stabling, consisting of a three-stall stable, two loose boxes, three-stall stable and two-stall stable, with a staircase leading to a range of good living rooms and lofts over the whole. A capital clock is in the Gable next the street, striking on a bell hung on an ornamental louvred turret. In the occupation of Mr John Fisher, a yearly tenant, at a rent of £25 per annum for the public House and Buildings and £4 7s 6d per annum for the field in the rear." [X65/61].

 
Tea gardens behind Hare and Hounds about 1920 [Z95/5]

In 1927 the dwellings of Old Warden were valued under the terms of the Rating Valuation Act 1925; every piece of land and building in the country was assessed to determine the rates to be paid on it. The valuer visiting the Hare and Hounds noted [DV1/C/34]that it wasowned by the Shuttleworth Estate and occupied by J.Baston. At that stage it was a Free House and was rented at £60 per annum. Winter trade was "say 1¼ barrels". Gross takings were about £45 per annum helped by a "fair tea trade".

The buildings comprised a small private bar, lunch room, public bar with four pull engine, a tap room, a private sitting room and a kitchen. Upstairs were five bedrooms. Outside were a wash house, a two bay open hovel, a small garage, wood house, four pigsties, a two stall stable and loose box, a store and food place. There was also a tea room and summer house but the scullery, "3 rooms" and the verandah were "not used". Water was laid on, meaning the pump near Parsonage Piece or Jacob's Well further down the High Street were not needed.

By the latter part of the 20th century the public house had ceased to be a free house. An account book from 1940 to 1948 suggests it was leased by Flitton's Stotfold Brewery [WB/Flitt3/6/3], whilst by 1976 [WL728/2] it was leased by Charles Wells. At the time of writing [2008] it is still a Charles Wells house.

 
Hare and Hounds March 2008

References:

• SL1/2 and 3 and L12/154: reference to the Crown in Ongley Estate deed: 1792;
• CLP13: register of alehouse licences: 1822-1828;
• AD2959: ‘Hare & Hounds inn, in occupation of Lydia Pidford, widow’: 1824;
• SL1/46 and 47: referred to in a mortgage: 1837;
• X65/61: part of the sale catalogue of the Ongley Estate: 1872;
• SL1/75a: sold, with the rest of the estate, by Lord Ongley to Shuttleworth 1872;
• HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
• HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
• SL5/175: plans and elevations of ornamental fence for the ostler's yard: 1875;
• HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
• HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
• HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
• HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
• Z95/4: coloured postcard: about 1900;
• Z95/5: coloured postcard of tea gardens: about 1900;
• X396/289: illustration of public house: about 1900;
• X758/1/12/90: photograph: about 1900;
• PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
• Z266/8: postcard of Hare and Hounds: 1905;
• X758/1/12/108: sepia print: 1930s;
• WB/Flitt3/6/3: Stotfold Brewery account book of day to day expenses: 1940-1948;
• CCE5351/1: mentioned in conveyance of the Estate from Dorothy Shuttleworth to trustees: 1944;
• PSBW8/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1956-1972;
• X758/1/12/113: photograph: 1960s
• Z50/129/135: photograph: 1970s;
• WL728/2: photograph of Hare & Hounds: 1976;
• PSBW8/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade and North Bedfordshire Petty Sessional Divisions: 1976-1980;
• WL722/87: refurbishment noted in Charles Wells in-house magazine Pint Pot:1996;
• WL722/102: death of landlord of The Hare & Hounds noted in Charles Wells in-house magazine Pint Pot: 2000

 
Hare and Hounds about 1914 [Z50/129/129]

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: 

• 1792: Bishop;
• before 1822:  William Pitford?
• 1822-1837: Lydia Pitford;
• 1851-1871: John Fisher;
• 1872-1899: George Fisher (son of John Fisher);
• 1899: Rebecca Fisher;
• 1899-1914: Charles Clark;
• 1920-1924: George Chapman;
• 1927-1928: John Baston;
• 1931-1936: Edward Robinson;
• 1940-1948: Stanley Gilbert;
• 1957-1971: Joseph John Pattinson;
• 1971-1982: John Elvet Davies;
• 1982-1986: Michael Allan Rees;
• 1986-1988: Derek Charles Gibbs and John Franklin Cave;
• 1988-1989: Susan Lesley Keen and John Franklin Cave;
• 1989-1991: David Martin Hull and Susan Lesley Keen;
• 1991-1992: Malcolm Doig Starling and Eric Raymond Needham;
• 1992: Ian Robert Rodney and Malcolm Doig Starling;
• 1992-1993: Darren Stanley Tighe and Malcolm Doig Starling;
• 1993: Darren Stanley Tighe and Susan Keen;
• 1993: Richard Conrad Robinson and Susan Lesley Keen;
• 1993-1994: Richard Conrad Robinson and Michael Alfred Porter;
• 1994: Julie Ann Lack and Michael Alfred Porter;
• 1994: Neil Tidmarsh and Michael Alfred Porter;
• 1994-1995: Neil Tidmarsh and Christopher William Goodwin;
• 1995: Arthur Milson and Joyce Milson