Licensing for the sale of alcohol began in 1552. The term public house first appeared in the late 17th century, and was used to differentiate private houses from those which were, quite literally, open to the public as 'alehouses', 'taverns' and 'inns.' In 1830 the Beerhouse Act allowed individuals to obtain for 2 guineas a licence for brewing and selling ale, beer and cider (not wine or spirits) from their homes - 'Beer Houses.' Laws enacted from 1869 onwards made it harder to obtain a licence and restricted opening hours. Many beer houses then closed, or were purchased by breweries and changed to fully licensed public houses. In 1892 pubs were categorised by social class of user!
The oldest public house in Egham was the Catherine Wheel at 85-88 High Street, which by the mid 17th Century was one of the principal local inns.
The White Lion has been in operation as an inn/public house since at least 1657 but the site belonged from 1563-1574 to John Hywood, the Vicar of Egham! In another interesting twist the pub doubled as a county jail in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
The first mention of the King’s Head is probably 1591 when William Kitchin, innholder, bought it as King’s Head Inn. He later settled it on his son Gilbert.
The earliest surviving lease documents for The Crown public house reveal that it has been in existence since at least 1706. However it was mentioned in a list of Egham’s principal inns by the poet John Taylor (‘The Water Poet’) in about 1636.
It is believed that the listed 17th Century building that now houses The Rose and Crown in Thorpe Green was originally a detached hunting lodge for Windsor Great Park, dating from approximately 1650.
The Swan Inn was built in The Hythe in the late 15th Century and has been a hostelry since at least 1660. The building was demolished in the late 18th Century and the pub was moved some 50 yards upstream. It has the longest private mooring (150 feet) on the Thames.
The Coach and Horses was a public house at 35 The Avenue, dating from the 17th Century. In the 19th century the address was sometimes given as The Glanty or even Staines Road.
The Angler's Rest public house seems to have originated from the 17th Century. It was rebuilt in approximately 1856 - apparently using part of what was formerly the lock-keeper's cottage.
According to a plaque on its wall, the Red Lion public house dates from the 16th century but its first known landlord was Edward Hyde in 1672. It has been rebuilt and restored several times, most recently in 2014.
The Queen’s Head, on the corner of Clockhouse Lane, the road from Egham to Thorpe, had some 200 years as an inn, with a series of tenant victuallers.
Court rolls of 1690 record the death of Edward Rogers who owned “a messuage, garden and orchard called le King’s Arms Inn.” It then passed to T. Bristow and subsequently his son John.
The Jolly Farmer was a public house on The Hythe, dating from the 17th and 18th Century. It is a Grade II listed building
The Red Lion public house in Thorpe dates from at least the year 1700 when Chas Wellbeloved surrendered the premises to his son, also Charles.
There has been a public house on Egham Hill since at least the 18th Century - but with three changes of name. In 1730 the site contained two cottages, one later a shop with a sign outside ‘Ye Pack Horse’ indicating the sale of refreshments, from the lessees Mary Harford and Mary Dee.
The Blue Ball and Jolly Sailor beer house was originally situated in Pump Alley - where there was a village pump. This later became Blue Ball Lane where it joins the High Street.
A 19th Century building on the roundabout at the bottom of Egham Hill was formerly the Eclipse public house, named after a famous race-horse. To older residents this is still known as the Eclipse roundabout.
The Nag’s Head was mentioned as an ale house in the occupation of Thomas Gardener in the 1771 will of Egham man Henry Hibberd who held the copyhold. No 55 High Street had been built in 1689 as a coffee house.
The Luff family are believed to have been running a pub called the Broomhall Hutte in London Road from the 1770s.
The Red Lion in Shrubb's Hill existed from at least 1775. It was the next pub along the road from Broomhall Hutt towards London.
The first record of ‘The Fox’ comes from 1801 when it appeared in a drawing by Paul Sandby, of the entrance to Windsor Great Park.
The Wheatsheaf Inn on the edge of Windsor Great Park was built by John Atkins in 1786 during a period of confusion after Virginia Water had burst its dam and flooded the locality.
The Barley Mow, overlooking Englefield Green, dates from the late 18th Century.
The first mention of The Waggon and Horses seems to date back to a lease drawn up to cover three pubs in September 1807 - the Coach and Horses in The Avenue/Glanty, the Pack Horse on Egham Hill and the Waggon and Horses, all owned by Richard Wyatt and his son Edgell, then of Englefield Green.
The Stag and Hounds was operating as a beer house from at least 1817.
The Ship was certainly at 3 The Causeway, near Staines Bridge from 1822, under Thomas Venables. It may have existed as early as 1818 with a man called Norton as its tenant or owner.
The Standard was established around 1828 as a beerhouse
The Standard beer house opened in the High Street in approximately 1834, landlord William Cumming, owner the Crown.
According to a local directory, The Victoria opened in 1839, taking its name from the new queen. The landlord was Joseph Ashford.
The Sun was established as a beer house and grocer’s shop by 1841. By 1856 it had become a public house and acquired its name.
The Rose and Olive Branch is a traditional pub on what used to be a crossroads on Callow Hill, Virginia Water. It closed for a period in 2019 and reopened in February 2020 under new ownership.
The Bricklayer’s Arms beer house was in operation at 17 Egham High Street by 1841, run by John Higgins.
The Crown was first described as a beer house in the 1851 census, with licensee Henry Brooker also working as a shoemaker. The building was in existence by 1790.
The Star and Garter is first mentioned in 1851 as a beer house owned by John Beauchamp in Norman Row.
The earliest reference to the Holly Tree comes from 1855.
The Prince of Wales started as a beer house, built on old gravel pits, at 15 Station Road, from at least 1856, run by Thomas Wellbelove.
The Oddfellows Arms seems to have been a beer house in the vicinity of the sandpits from 1856, run by J Kettle and W Munday plus another man.
In 1856 The Royal Oak was a beer house at 23 High Street, plus a tenement and yard.
The Castle was a beer house on Egham Hill from about 1860, probably as an extension of a private house..
The Railway Inn, later known as The New Railway Hotel, was at 18 Station Road from at least 1860 when it was mentioned in the Egham Rate books.
The Beehive opened in about 1860 as a beerhouse occupied by John Simmons, owner of The Crown.
A cottage in Rosemary Lane, dating from the 1600s, had been turned into the Jolly Gardeners beer house by 1862.
The Halfway House beer house opened approximately 1865.
The Foresters Arms has been in North Street (originally known as Fishers Fields) since at least 1865 when it was mentioned in local rate books as a beer house.
The Hop Blossom beer house opened during the 1860s, owned by Isleworth Brewery. By 1871 it was run by Louisa Mosley.
The first mention in rate books of The Compasses in Frogs Island as a beerhouse, was in 1867, naming Henry Winter as occupier. It closed permanently in January 2023.
The earliest mention of the Prince of Wales beer house in Frogs Island occurs in the 1868 rate books, occupier William East.
The Robin Hood is first mentioned in local rate books as a beerhouse in 1868, occupier Henry Ebenezer Greenslade
The 17th century section of the Boleyn Hotel (the eastern side) at 29 The Hythe was, from the second half of the 19th century, a beer house, simply known locally as The Free House.
The Armstrong Gun beer house at 42 Victoria Street opened in the late 19th Century.
The locally-published Larkin's Directory for 1870 mentions the Walnut Tree beer house, run by Thomas Benford who also lived there in 1870 and 1871.
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