Licensing for the sale of alcohol began in 1552. The term public house first appeared in the late 17th century, and was used to differentiate private houses from those which were, quite literally, open to the public as 'alehouses', 'taverns' and 'inns.' In 1830 the Beerhouse Act allowed individuals to obtain for 2 guineas a licence for brewing and selling ale, beer and cider (not wine or spirits) from their homes - 'Beer Houses.' Laws enacted from 1869 onwards made it harder to obtain a licence and restricted opening hours. Many beer houses then closed, or were purchased by breweries and changed to fully licensed public houses.
The oldest public house in Egham was the Catherine Wheel at 85-88 High Street, which by the mid 17th Century was one of the principal local inns.
The White Lion has been in operation as an inn/public house since at least 1657 but the site belonged from 1563-1574 to John Hywood, the Vicar of Egham! In another interesting twist the pub doubled as a county jail in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
The first mention of the King’s Head is probably 1591 when William Kitchin, innholder, bought it as King’s Head Inn. He later settled it on his son Gilbert.
The earliest surviving lease documents for The Crown public house reveal that it has been in existence since at least 1706. However it was mentioned in a list of Egham’s principal inns by the poet John Taylor (‘The Water Poet’) in about 1636.
It is believed that the listed 17th Century building that now houses The Rose and Crown in Thorpe Green was originally a detached hunting lodge for Windsor Great Park, dating from approximately 1650.
The Swan Inn was built in The Hythe in the late 15th Century and has been a hostelry since at least 1660. The building was demolished in the late 18th Century and the pub was moved some 50 yards upstream. It has the longest private mooring (150 feet) on the Thames.
The Coach and Horses was a public house at 35 The Avenue, dating from the 17th Century. In the 19th century the address was sometimes given as The Glanty or even Staines Road.
The Angler's Rest public house seems to have originated from the 17th Century. It was rebuilt in approximately 1856 - apparently using part of what was formerly the lock-keeper's cottage.
According to a plaque on its wall, the Red Lion public house dates from the 16th century but its first known landlord was Edward Hyde in 1672. It has been rebuilt and restored several times, most recently in 2014.
The Queen’s Head, on the corner of Clockhouse Lane, the road from Egham to Thorpe, had some 200 years as an inn, with a series of tenant victuallers.
