The Inn at Woburn is a hotel of great quality and charm and worlds away from its humble 18th Century origins as a coaching Inn.
Owned and managed by the historic Bedford Estates, the hotel's reputation continues to flourish. Set in the heart of the Georgian village of Woburn.
Inn at Woburn [previously St.George and George then Bedford Arms]: 1-3 George Street, Woburn
The Bedford Arms was originally known as the George (hence George Street in which it stands) and is now called the Inn at Woburn.
Whatever the name it has been Woburn's most important inn/hotel throughout its history. The main building was Grade II Listed in 1961 and is considered to be early eighteenth century. There are, however, mentions of the building, then a hospice or hospital (which may mean a place of hospitality for guests at the Abbey rather than the more modern meanings), by the name of St.George or George in the early sixteenth century and the George in the seventeenth century.
In an account of the property of Woburn Abbey, drawn up at its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539 the inn is referred to as "a hospice called St.George on the alley leading towards the Monastery" [Park Street?]. There was also a farm called the George as this reference demonstrates: "a farm of one messuage in Woburn called le George with appurtenances and one garden adjacent"; the farm's tenant was Thomas Style.
The court book of the Manor of Woburn Abbotts records admission of a tenant to a tenement to the south of "hospicii vocat le George" on 10 Nov 1576.
In Sir Jonas Moore's survey of the Woburn Estate of 1661 it is referred to as "an antient Inn of many roomes with three stables brewhouse three barnes orchard garden and other easements" it contained 3 roods 12 perches of ground and was tenanted by "Mr.fflaxmore". The building underwent extensive repairs between 1695 and 1696 and may account for the date ascribed by the Department of Environment.
As a large coaching inn the building was frequently host to local sittings of the Quarter Sessions and frequently served as a temporary billet for regiments moving about the country in the early eighteenth century as the lists of sources below make clear. The building has been owned by the Dukes of Bedford, as the 1661 survey shows, from early times and so it was appropriate that around 1840 the name changed to the Bedford Arms. At some point the Dukes of Bedford leased the inn to Morris & Company (Ampthill) Limited as it appears on an inventory of theirs, compiled just before their takeover by J.W.Green Limited of Luton in 1927. It seems likely that the lease was ended soon after as Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has no mention of the inn in the Green archive.
In 1927 the buildings were valued for rates under the 1925 Valuation Act. Given the size of the site and number of buildings the entry runs into five notebook pages where usually only one suffices. At that stage Morris & Company were still leasing the premises, sub-leasing them to the landlord Robert Thomas Hammond. The rental was £65 per annum, not an extraordinary sum given the size of the premises and prosperity of the business. The main building contained:
- downstairs: coffee room; kitchen; scullery and pantry; gents lavatory; bar; living room; office; dining room; taproom; two lounges;
- upstairs: ten bedrooms (nine for letting); two maids' bedrooms; lavatory; bathroom;
- outside: a boot shed; piggery; wood shed; two lock up garages; stabling for nine horses; coal barn; two bar stores
The business was worth about £1,500 per annum "but could do more", it got through two and a half barrels of beer per week, twelve dozen bottles of Bass and Guinness in the same period and 105 gallons of spirits per year.
Bedford Arms yard about 1900
The survey notes a number of businesses operating in the yard as follows:
- a further public house, leased by Hammond to H.C.Dracup. This contained a tap room, bar, lounge and kitchen on the ground floor and three bedrooms upstairs; outside were an earth closet and coal barn. It sold about one barrel, two dozen bottles of beer and one bottle of spirits per week;
- a garage business occupied by Ames & Sons and consisting of six lockup garages ("was a coachhouse"), an office, lock up workshop and engine room with loft over, petrol store, lumber store and two petrol pumps with two 250 gallon tanks;
- a drill hall occupied by the 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment consisting of a shooting range (25 feet by 16½ feet), armoury and licensed club room; the valuer added a note "Note. The Cottage Hospital has a Loose Box for Coal Store at the back of this. Neglect".
- a coal and fodder business leased by Frank Tompkins consisting of a cart hovel, a two bay large store, a coachhouse, two loose boxes, stabling for six horses, an engine house and straw barn, all ,except the cart hovel, with a loft over. The valuer noted: "Engine neglected. Not Farm. Coal & Fodder".
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