The Red Cow Beerhouse Potton

The Red Cow Beerhouse: 48 King Street, Potton

The Red Cow in 1908 [CLP4]

The countywide licensing register of 1876 states that a beerhouse without a sign but owned by George Darlow was first licensed in 1848. By 1891 this had become the Red Cow and was still owned by Darlow, it was a free house.

The countywide licensing register of 1903 states that the property was then in the ownership of Bedford brewer Charles Wells and was in good repair. It was twenty yards from the nearest licensed premises (the Horse and Jockey) and had a front and a back door. The beerhouse closed in 1908, becoming a private house.

The rear of the Red Cow in 1908 [CLP4]

The beerhouse closed as a result of a report to the licensing magistrates [CLP4] which stated that it was: “part stud and plaster and tiled, with a late addition of brick” and the lowest rated of the five licensed premises in King Street. The report stated baldly: “the sanitary arrangements are bad … there is no growth in the population, and very little building going on … there are more licensed houses in the neighbourhood of this house than are required for the needs of the inhabitants … From the evidence given and from our knowledge of the locality and the accommodation of the house in question and of the other licensed houses in the neighbourhood, we are unanimously of opinion that this licence is not required, and we report accordingly”.

48 King Street February 2013

References:

• HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licenses - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
• HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licenses - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
• HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licenses - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
• HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licenses - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
• HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licenses - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
• HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licenses - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
• PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licenses - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
• CLP4: report leading to closure: 1908.

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:

1848-1894: George Darlow;
1894-1895: Jabez Rainsford;
1895-1908: Jesse Chamberlain
Beerhouse closed 22nd December 1908