The Wagon & Horses is no more.
Closed for good on 18 August 2007 and demolished in September 2011.
Closed for good on 18 August 2007 and demolished in September 2011.
The original pub on this site, going by the same name and standing much closer to the road, is said to have stood for almost 300 years. It was kept in 1851 by James Newton, and later by various members of the Potter family.
The later pub, built by former local builders JA Elliott & Sons, was unique in Bishops Stortford because it was designed by a woman – a Mrs Cotton, and it was another woman Mrs EM Smith, chairman of the Stortford bench, who drew the first pint when it opened in May 1957.
A managed house until 1967 it was first taken over by Ind Coope then by Punch Taverns who sold it as part of a package deal of 869 pubs to Admiral Taverns in April 2007, but their tenure was brief.
Despite the addition of a small motel next to the pub in 2004/5, falling trade made the pub uneconomical to run.
I couldn’t get access to the pub itself unfortunately, but the hotel was unlocked so I managed to get a few pictures of that and the grounds before the whole place was flattened.
I returned a week or two after my original visit with UrbanX to get a better look but we pulled up to a pile of rubble and bar stools.
Sorry about the flash photography inside. I ran in on my way home from work and didn’t have my pod or torch with me so hip-shots all around!
Side of the pub
Back
The hotel
Entrance
Much of the same room to room as you would expect. Lot's left behind.
Hope someone took some of this stuff before it was obliterated.
Someone has been sleeping here by the looks of it
For anyone interested in the history of the land it was built on I found this archaeological excavation they did on the place back in 2008.
Prehistoric, Romano-British and medieval finds all noted. Quite an interesting read…
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7630552/Wagon-and-Horses-Bishops-Stortford
This is a picture of the trenches found beneath the property.
Thanks for looking.
MDX
