South West Coastal Walk
Help Save The George
The George - " at the heart of Silsoe"
Our vision is to develop a community hub for Silsoe that will be a central focal point for village life and act as a catalyst to strengthen a sense of community in Silsoe. The intention is that the George will include a Post Office; a Cafe; IT centre; restaurant; meeting rooms and a pub for everyone to enjoy.
Today's George Hotel - in the middle of the High Street in Silsoe and at the centre of the village - is a relatively recent building when compared with the history of the inn itself. The first mention of it is on 26th December 1613 when the executors of John Child conveyed it to Richard Daniel for a relatively large sum of money - £240/10/6. This indicates that it would have been a well-established business.
John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington, kept a detailed diary between 1781 and 1794. He was a great traveller and he mentions the George on 30th May 1789 -
"A short Road [from Wrest Park] brought me, at 2 o'clock to The George Inn, Silsoe, a tolerable Noon Stop, free from Noise, close to The Park, and with a neat Garden; where on a Seat in a yew-Bush, I enjoy'd the fragrance of a Sweet Briar Hedge, Shelter'd from the Rain; I but just Escaped. The Stable here is very good, and The People very Civil. – Unluckily, I was too late for their Eggs and Bacon, So was obliged to have a bad fry'd Beef-Steak;- but I brought good sauce with me".
The Ampthill Petty Sessions of 20th December 1838 recorded that the George was "untenantable and irreparable". As a result the licence was moved to a new building. It is likely that the old building was demolished soon afterwards. The current building was largely rebuilt during the early 19th century, further up the High Street and on the opposite side of the road. This building was listed by the former Department of Environment in 1960 as Grade III but is no longer listed. The building had a "long, imposing frontage" and comprised, on the ground floor, a saloon bar, a public bar with four beer pulls, a coffee room ("very good"), a private drawing room ("good"), a club room ("fair"), a kitchen and a scullery. It was, no doubt to this club room that the deputation from the Borough of Bedford proceeded after their meeting with King Edward VII at Wrest Park in July 1909. Upstairs lay seven bedrooms ("3 of them letting bedrooms"), a bathroom and three W. C's.
Despite its central location in a rapidly growing village, the George Hotel closed its doors on January 5, 2015. The George Hotel used to be a thriving hotel and pub attracting visitors travelling along the A6 and visiting surrounding areas, including English Heritage-operated Wrest Park, as well as serving the local community.
The decline, which lead to the subsequent sale and closure, started around 2003 following the unsuccessful search for a long term tenant and with the agreement with the most recent tenant to operate on a number of short term tenancies. The short term nature of the lease ensured that there was little incentive for the tenants to invest in the pub and upgrade the interior, whilst the Pub Co showed little enthusiasm in the maintenance of the exterior or keeping it going as a hotel, even removing the pub from the Greene King website.
These years of underinvestment meant the hotel rooms were closed in 2007, as they didn’t meet fire regulations, and that the pub no longer provided an attractive venue either for visitors to Silsoe or the majority of the local community. This had the inevitable knock‐on effect of it losing custom and failing to make a profit, thereby leading to further under investment with neither the tenants nor Pub Co profiting from the business.
Following an offer by a local developer, Greene King decided to sell the premises and substantial lands around the building. The initial plans presented by the new owners to Central Bedfordshire Council were promising and envisaged an extensively refurbished Hotel, whilst building 3 large (4/5 bedroom) detached houses on the land behind the pub in order to pay for it. Despite the promises given at the time of the planning application, following its approval and the commencement of the building works, in September 2015, the George was placed on the open market initially with an asking price of £750,000 for the Freehold or £100,000 for a 3 year lease; most recently, the George has been awarded status of an Asset of Community Value (ACV), this means any sale has to go on hold, to give the community the opportunity to purchase it for the benefit of Silsoe.
The George
For more information about our project please visit our website
Silsoe History
The village name is derived from the Danish word ‘hoh’, in "Sifels hoh", meaning "Sifel’s hill". The Danes were thought to have been the earliest settlers here. The Domesday Book (1086 – Siuuilessou or Sewilessou) records two manors, the larger held by Hugh of Walter, brother of Saher, and this later became the manor of Wrest. A smaller manor, believed to be that of Newbury, was owned by a concubine of Nigel d'Aubigny. The first market was held here weekly on Tuesdays and annual fair on May 1 from 1318.
A Latinized form of the village name may be seen as "Sevelesho", in a legal record of 1430, where the defendants William Butte, yeoman & William Clerk, husbandman lived.
By 1563 there were 21 families living in Silsoe. The village growth was largely influenced by the needs of the Wrest Park estate and most of the inhabitants were servants, gardeners, stable hands and blacksmiths who lived in thatched and terrace cottages some of which still exist today. There was also a baker, who supplied Wrest House, and in the roof of the old bakehouse off the High Street, the oven ventilation can still be seen. From 1715 an annual fair was held on September 10 and a weekly market on Wednesdays. By the mid-19th century a number of trades were present in the village. There was a butcher, a milkman, cobbler, draper, builder and a grocer.
Wrest Estate
The Wrest Estate, in turn, provided the village with a church – St James’s, a school and a row of almhouses, so sited that a row of cottages was hidden from the gentry’s view as they drove from the Park to the church in nearby Flitton. Silsoe’s position on a main road to London and half-way between Bedford and Luton made it a favourite halt for drovers and travellers stopping at the George coaching inn (first mentioned in 1624) on the High Street. Silsoe had many inns including The White Hart, The Ragged Staff, Duke of Kent’s Arms, The Bell, The Battle of Alma (or known as The Mouse's Hole in West End Road), Lord Nelson (Newbury Lane). Now only the George and Star and Garter in the High Street remain. During the First World War Wrest House was used as a military hospital until 1916 when the house was damaged by fire. Lady Lucas, the last member of the de Grey dynasty, sold the House and estate before an auction that was to have been held at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, London EC2 on 17 July 1917.
Wrest Park's historic house and magnificent gardens are now part of English Heritage and have been restored and opened to the public from 4 August 2011
Church of St James and War Memorial
The church stands on the site of a much earlier free chapel of St. Leonard, first mentioned in the Liber Antiquus (1209–35), that became a chapel of ease in the 17th century. The chapel belonged to the abbey of Elstow. Eventually the chapel had a central tower. In the fourteenth century two chantries were founded in the chapel. In the early 19th century Thomas Philip Robinson, 2nd Earl de Grey (1781–1859), wished to construct a spire but the weight of the structure proved too much for the supporting walls and the whole building collapsed. The church was rebuilt between 1829–1831 and opened on 20 February 1831. It consists of chancel, nave, aisles and a tower containing three bells. Nikolaus Pevsner admired it as ‘an astonishing job for its day’. The architect was Smith ofHereford who achieved ’an antiquarian accuracy here extremely rare ten years before Pugin’. Other sources such as Arthur Mee suggest that the architect was Earl de Grey, confirmed by Charles Read.[4] Built in local ironstone, all embattled. The altar rails are made from 17th century oak taken from the chapel of the original Wrest House. Most of its stained glass windows represent the families of Wrest House. On Sunday. 25 July 1909 King Edward VII attended the church service here and made a donation towards the clock fund
The Lock-up
In Church Road, is an ironstone lock-up erected 1796, octagonal, with a pointed head to the doorway. It was used as a temporary place for stray animals or drunks, and its central pole, now removed, was used to chain prisoners in transit between Bedford and Luton.
