EARLY DAYS AT THE CHEQUERS (Now the HALT & PULL)
Printed in The INDEPENDENT 17th January 1985 by Leslie Oppitz
Breakfast, dinner tea and supper all for 30 pence a day
EARLY last century, the Old London to Brighton road ran north from Horley over Reigate Hill.
This was not an easy route for horses and their coaches since the original road was much steeper than at present so it was small wonder that Horley, being half way on this coastal route became a popular and much-needed resting place.
At the Old Chequers travellers could take wine, brandy or ale with their meals, and horses could be changed. With as many as 20 coaches passing through Horley each day. business was brisk.
The Chequers is said to date back to 1537, when Henry Vlll dissolved a monastery at Chertsey which had helped many Surrey travellers in its time.
It was then that Horley Row came in to being and ‘Bolters’ — as the Chequers was then called — started life as a beer house to serve the village.
It is not certain when Bolters became the Chequers but the name Chequers is derived from the coat of arms of the Earls de Warrene, which bore a chequered board. The de Warrene family licensed ale houses in Surrey.
At first the road from Salfords to Horley and beyond was a mere lane but as this improved the inn became firmly established as a well-known place for mail and staging coaches.
Excellent service
Service became excellent. Horses and travellers received first class attention and on special journeys only one minute was allowed to change horses.
For those who stayed longer, breakfast, dinner. tea and supper was charged at 6s. (30p) a day. Once a guest complained when he was charged an additional 7s. 6d. (37½ p) to stay the night, pointing out it was not usually put on the bill!
In winter, guests were given wax candles to help them get to bed — at an extra cost. Such candles became a status symbol for, should a brave guest refuse one. he was regarded as either mean or poor and the service he received dropped accordingly.
When the railway came to Horley in 1841 the old Brighton mail coaches were withdrawn. Mail was carried by train for about 40 years but local folk then began to argue that there was time overnight that could be used to speed up the service, so a two-horse night mail was introduced.
Steam van
The mail coaches changed at the Chequers every night. The down mail from London Bridge met the up mail from Brighton each morning at 12.55 am. A steam van was tried in 1896 but this lasted only a few weeks.
By 1905 the last journey of the horse mail had taken place. Daimler petrol vans took over the run, taking just over the hour to reach Horley from London or Brighton.
What a colourful sight it must have been, however, in earlier days, when a blast from the horn announced the arrival of a heavily laden coach outside the Chequers.
Perhaps on a wet wintry night it may still be possible to see ghosts of men wearing curly brimmed hats and many-tiered driving capes, shrouded in Surrey mud.
They would be perched high on the driving seats of their coaches urging horses to plunge wildly on down the road to Salfords and into the night.