4 Bull Street Potton

4 Bull Street March 2007

A list of addresses of Potton licensed premises prepared by Potton History Society [CRT130Potton27] states that 4 Bull Street was formerly the King’s Head public house, which closed around 1903. The pub is first named in a document of 1696 [WG86] suggesting that 4 Bull Street dates back at least to the 17th century, albeit with significant later alterations.

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. The valuer visiting 4 Bull Street [DV1/C11/113] found that it was then a shop, owned and occupied by Charles Hutchinson who, Kelly’s Directory for 1928 tells us, was a confectioner. His shop was a converted parlour and other ground floor accommodation comprised a living room and a kitchen. Three bedrooms were on the first floor. A two storey brick and slate stores and a wood and corrugated iron shed both stood outside.

Directories for Bedfordshire were not published every year but every few years from the early to mid 19th century until 1940. Kelly’s Directory for 1914, 1920, 1924 and 1928 all list Charles Hutchinson as a confectioner in Bull Street. Directories of 1936 and 1940 list him as a builder in the same street [see image below]. In 1904 the King’s Head was described as boarded up and empty, it would be interesting to know how long it remained in this state and whether Hutchinson was the first tenant after the pub’s closure.

G and S Hutchinson billhead [X704/92/37/1]