The Crown Public House, Stotfold

Information taken from Stotfold Pubs and Publicans by Bert Hyde. 

The Crown, 2024

The Crown opened in 1847 and is located at 39 The Green. The present building was built in 1850 by Jesse Sale, as master carpenter who helped build St. Mary’s School. Jesse got into money trouble in 1859 and had to sell the pub to Wells and Co, however he stayed on as publican. The freehold was listed in a sale catalogue for Baldock Brewery in 1898 [ref: GK1/36]. The pub remains open.

Licensees: note that this is not a complete list and that dates in italics are not necessarily beginning or end dates, merely the first/last date which can be confirmed from sources such as directories and deeds.

Licensees:

• 1850 - 1861 – Jesse Sale
• 1862 – John Kitchiner
• 1871 - 1891 – William Green
• 1881 – Elizabeth Green
• 1901 - 1902 – Thomas Masters 
• 1910 – George Adcock
• 1923 - 1939 – George Arnold
• 1939 - 1955 – Francis Pearmain
• 1955 - 1976 – Joe Presland
• 1975 – G Holt
• 1979 - 1997 – Francis Carter

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives: 

• GK38/1: Conveyance, 1859
• QSR1862/4/2/1: Petition of appeal (for below), 1862
• QSR1862/4/4/21: John Kitchiner to appeal against the refusal by the Justices of the Peace to grant him a licence to sell excisable liquor at the Crown for a further year, 1862
• Z1169/8/72/109: Architects drawings for The Crown, 1940.
• Z1255/1/74: Photo of The Crown Public House, 2006.