By Roger Packham and Peter Connelly
As you walk up Westhall Road to The Green, on the corner where The Gallery now is, there used to be a pair of old barns that were used as livery stables and a temperance coffee house in the late 19th century. These were demolished for redevelopment in 1905, as shown in this photo.
The current row of shops on the corner, Bradford Buildings, replaced the barns – in the photo below from 1907, the corner shop was originally G H Griffiths Grocers, but in 1968 the premises became a branch of the National Westminster Bank, before becoming The Gallery in 2023 when the bank closed.
Continuing along the side of The Green, the row of shops has not changed much from when the snowy picture below was taken in 1927. A very hard winter, the village was cut off by snow for 10 days.
Continuing along the side of The Green and turning left up Limpsfield Road, we come to what was Warlingham’s third pub, the 18th C Leather Bottle (now Smoque restaurant). The two photos below show the pub as it was, the first dates from around 1910 and the second slightly later in the 1920’s but still advertising good stabling.
The brewery shown over the door is Nalder and Collyer’s of 123 High St, Croydon. The brewery was started in the 16th century, but was taken over by the City of London Brewery in 1919, with brewing ceasing at the Croydon site in the mid-1930’s.