The early history of the public house, known recently as “The “Waggon & Horses”, is more complicated than was once thought. Parish records tell us that this inn was formerly known as “The Coach & Horses”. An entry in the burials for November 1696 is our earliest reference and mentions that a Welsh drover died on the premises and that the name of the landlord was Parsons. Another entry, for December 1708, states that a travelling man, who went about with a "poppit" show, died at the sign of The Coach & Horses - the landlord was James Barnet. In about 1720 the property was purchased by Samuel Smith from a Mr. Brown of London and for some unknown reason it was re-named “The Bell”. Smith was both a publican and a shopkeeper and later sold the premises to Abel Blofield but continued to live there as his tenant.

It seems that it closed as a public house after that because a 1783 indenture states: "Property sometime since used as two tenements in occupation of Samuel Smith and John York, now or late in tenure of Richard Wade, victualler and late called the Bell". This indenture was drawn up when the property was sold by Abel Blofield’s nephew Richard Blofield to Joseph Wood. Some years later, in 1815, Joseph Wood’s widow Mary sold it, again now a public house and called the Waggon & Horses, to David Dulley the Wellingborough brewer. In a document dated 1840 describing the rents from Dulley’s fourteen public houses in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, the annual rent from the Waggon & Horses was £700, the third highest on the list.

To read about a court case when William Wright was landlord click here

Dulleys Brewery remained as its owner for many years and the c1905 photograph shows its name on the board. It is interesting to note that in the 1911 census, its then landord, Henry Coleman, stated his occupation to be 'Blacksmith, general' and the words ' & Licenensed victualler' were added in different handwriting, presumably the enumerator's. In 1920, Dulleys sold out to Campbell Praed of Northampton and then, in 1954, ownership transferred to Phipps of Northampton, subsequently in 1960 to Watney Mann and then to Chef and Brewer and finally, in 1976, to Charles Wells who put it up for sale in 2007.

The table below shows the earliest dates we have for each of the landlords occupying the premises:

Parsons 1696 William Wright 1861 James Barnet 1708 Samuel Lewis 1874 Joseph Wood 1787 Lydia Lewis 1898 Thomas Burnaby 1815 Henry Coleman 1903 Edward Dickens 1841 John Wright 1854 Cecil Buckby 1940

Named below are more recent licensees found in electoral registers and other sources:

1960	Cecil Buckby		1986	John & June White
1961	No register available		1987	John & June White
1962	James & Henrietta Mott		1988-9	No register available
1963	James & Henrietta Mott		1990	Susan J Ward
1972	James & Henrietta Mott		1991-2	Alan Woolls
1973-4	No register available		1994	Bruce & Valerie Hearn
1975	No entry for this address		1998	Bruce & Valerie Hearn
1975-7	No register available		1999-2001	No register available
1978	John & June White		2002	Nigel & Jennifer Shaw
1980	John & June White		2003-6	No register available
1982	John & June White		2007	Suzette Walters

The Waggon & Horses Darts Team enjoyed considerable success immediately post World War II and in 1946 became the outright winners of the Town Darts League Championship Cup.

Waggon & Horses Darts Team - 1946 Standing: Jack ODell, Herbert Wright, Alf Keach, Arthur Buckby, Cyril Craddock, ? Charlie Sharp. Seated: Reg (Huffy) Northern, P E Pateman, Cecil Buckby (landlord), Ernie Townsend, Ray Howard.

Waggon & horses Darts Team - 1950s Standing: Joe Johnson, Herbert Desborough, George Wright, Charlie Wittering. Seated: Cecil Buckby (landlord), Alf Wittering, Charlie Johnson, Oliver Love.	Waggon & Horses Skittle team - 1950s Standing: Ted Dicks, Ralph Felce, Ray Chester, Bert Turner. Seated: Will Hume, Cecil Buckby, Charlie Wittering, Alf Crisp, Dot Johnson.

The premises to the right of the inn, just visible in the old photograph below, is now a car sales lot. It used to be a double-fronted labourer's house tied to Redlands Farm but was demolished in the mid 1960s. It was mentioned in the 1941-43 National Farm Survey together with its then occupant S J Dunmore; for more details, please click here.

The labourer's house was just to the right of the inn.	Recent photograph with car sales lot to the right.

In 1990 the inn was the target of an unidentified and apparently indiscriminate sniper, but fortunately no-one was seriously harmed in the attack. To read a newspaper report of the incident, please click here.


The Waggon & Horses was put up for auction in 1976 and sold as a going concern, but at the present time it is unoccupied. Click on the following links to read about its auction details (1976) and demise in 2007.


A new name and a new lease of life in 2008
(report from The Evening Telegraph dated November 2008)

At Your Service Bob Quittenton outside his new pub.

A former hotelier who came to visit friends in Burton Latimer has rescued one of the area's oldest pubs. Bob Quittenton, who used to run a hotel in Blackpool, saw the former Waggon and Horses pub was up for sale. Mr Quittenton had never owned a pub but decided to move to the area to try something new at the venue, which had been empty for 18 months.

A telephone bid at auction secured the sale following fears that the 17th century pub would either be converted into a home or demolished after being empty for so long. It has re-opened as Latimer's Family Bar following a major refurbishment, with the hope of offering something different.

Mr Quittenton said: "It looks totally different inside. We had to rip the inside out because we had woodworm, damp, rot - you name it. It's now a bit more upmarket and classy. Children are welcome until 9pm. It's somewhere for families to come and while the children play, parents can have a drink and relax. The Waggon and Horses had quite a good reputation so it would have been a shame to see it knocked down."

Mr Quittenton said although business had been a little slow, he hopes to be able to start serving food soon. Some of the items he has planned include an open mic session, pool night, quiz night, karaoke and discos. He said:  "We are open to suggestions and are trying to find out what our customers want. We are aiming it at families and I don't think there is anything like this in the area."