7) Ye Olde King and Queen, and the Blacksmiths Arms

By Roger Packham

The Olde King and Queen on the left, around 1900.        Photo courtesy of  East Surrey Museum

It is thought that part of the King & Queen building at 34 High Street dates from the early 1700s and possibly appears on the Rowed Map of 1736. Another house was added to the north in the early 1800s and in 1839 the site was described as a cottage and garden with 101ft frontage to High Street and a depth of 162ft. It is known that a beershop existed here from c.1845 but the earliest reference to the name of King & Queen is not until 1876. Richard and Sophia Cullingham ran the beershop between these two dates. In the 1960s Mrs E Crees remembered her Caterham childhood of the mid-1880s: ‘the King & Queen which was another little, low place, not built out. The old tree, recently taken down, had seats round it where the folks sat down, children and all’. After the Cullinghams the following licensees are recorded: 1879 William Tedman; 1880 Theodorus Beet; 1882-86 Walter Bowring; 1887-88 Thomas Penfold; 1890-1903 Thomas Somerville, and during his tenure, the site was bought by Croydon brewers Page and Overton, remaining a Page and Overton house until the brewery and pubs were taken over by Charrington’s in 1933. Later licensees were Samuel McNaughton 1905-1922; Mrs Maggie McNaughton 1923-1930; and William George Knight 1934-38. In 1938 the name of the house appears as Ye Olde King & Queene. After the last war Tim Clinch of Town End held the licence for many years and took a great interest when the Bourne Society conducted an archaeological excavation in 1981 in the pub garden to find evidence of an earlier building. A large number of pieces of pottery dated to the 12th and 14th centuries were found, which were associated with the remains and walls of this earlier building.

The present landlady is Kathy Hill, and is now a Fuller, Smith and Turner’s house.

BLACKSMITHS ARMS, 39 High Street

The first Blacksmiths Arms originally opened in 1820 a short distance to the north of the present Blacksmiths Arms, making it Caterham’s oldest licensed establishment. A drawing of this earlier building appears in Mrs Tooke’s Bygone Caterham and it appears to pre-date 1820 by many years.  There is a record of the first Blacksmiths Arms providing a dinner to the Caterham and Chipstead cricketersafter their match in 1845 on the new cricket ground, and in 1871 100 members of the Caterham Benefit Club sat down to dinner with music from the Coulsdon United Service Band.  But in 1878 it was demolished, and a new Blacksmiths Arms built by the Croydon brewers Crowley for £2,000. Shortly afterwards, in 1890 the building survived a fire.

Blacksmiths Arms from a distance, in the early 20th century.  On the left can be seen Box Cottage, once one of the oldest buildings in the town, but sadly demolished in 1964.  Photo courtesy of East Surrey Museum

And in 1919, Crowley’s brewery and pubs were taken over by another Croydon brewer, Hoare’s, who were in turn taken over by Charrington’s soon afterwards.

A close-up of the Blacksmiths Arms having a beer delivery.  Photo courtesy of East Surrey Museum

At some point in the mid 20th century, the building’s fine brick exterior was rendered and painted over, however under new management the pub underwent extensive renovations inside and out in 2018,  and the render was removed to reveal the handsome brickwork of this fine building again.