Only One Pub in the Village
Where were the others?
By Derek Skipper
The Chequers is the only pub remaining in Orwell in 2014, but for much of the 20th century there were three more. These were
- The White Hart--now 13 High Street
- The Nag's Head--now 44 High Street
- The Duke of Wellington --now Wellington Cottage, Stocks Lane
The Old English Gentleman, now 85 High Street, and The Red Lion, demolished in the 1960s, ceased trading early in the 20th century. (A modern house, 34 High Street, now stands on the Red Lion site.)
Click on the images above to enlarge them.
In New Orwell, (now part of Wimpole), there was The Fox & Hounds, now 'Foxhounds', a private house, and The Queen Victoria, since demolished.
On Malton Lane there was The Hector, known to most local people as The Shant and now a private house, renamed The Retreat.
In addition to these licensed premises, there were several 'beer sellers' in the village in the 19th century, selling their own brew of home made beer to customers at the door. The beer trade no doubt flourished at that time thanks to the thirsts and good wages of the coprolite diggers!
The remaining pub -The Chequers- first appeared as a licensed premises in the Cambridgeshire Quarter Sessions Victuallers Register in 1815 and was owned by several different brewers until, in 1983, it became a "Free House" and remained so until bought by Punch Taverns. In 2014 it is once again 'free', with a local owner and tenant management. (For more information on The Chequers see its entry in our Trades category.)
[See also additional page on Public Houses under the "Topics" Category, within the Trades sub-category].