Memories Of The Wheatsheaf Pub

Published on: 28 Feb, 2012
Updated on: 28 Feb, 2012

by David Rose

Following on from the story I wrote under the heading ‘The Wheatsheaf – Guildford’s Rowdiest Pub Ever’, I had an email from Penelope Rehbein to say that her father, Gerald William Jeffree, was the landlord who called time at the pub in Mount Street (now The Mount) for the last time ever before it closed in 1955.

She has now supplied a lovely photo of the pub with her, when she was a little girl, sitting on the steps by the front door. By the appearance of the pub and the Courage brewery sign to the right of the door, it reveals that the photo I used in the original article must also date to the first half of the 1950s. Note also the Courage cockerel logos on the wooden posts supporting the porch. There appears to be plenty of flowers growing in the window boxes too! The wooden fence is delightful.

Penelope has also added some of her memories of Guildford over 50 years ago. She writes: “I have very fond memories of Guildford having lived there for 17 years, first at the Wheatsheaf and then the Live and Let Live pub.

“I think my father was quite well known, as he umpired for Guildford City Cricket Club for many many years and my mother did the teas during his lifetime and after he passed away.

“We always called him Joe “Lyons” as he went there nearly every morning for a cup of tea.

[Lyons had one of its many once famous tearooms in Guildford High Street].

“So many of the pubs have now changed their names, but its good to see the Live and Let Live still lives on!

“I see they are going to build a new supermarket on land directly behind the Live.

“The Guildford Youth Centre is still there I believe. I was actually interviewed on the telly (South Today/Nationwide or something similar) when it was first built, as there was quite a lot of controversy regarding the sculptures erected on the front of the building which depicted the male and female form with holes for the females breasts and a hole for the gentlemen’s undercarriage!

“Dad did always tell everyone that the Wheatsheaf was supposed to be a stop over for Dick Turpin in his day! Dad  also ran a darts team and I believe took one of his players called “Dummy” Wise to play in the News of The World Tournament, he was that good.

“I loved looking through your website and shall visit it regularly to see what else you’ve managed to find out. As regards the photo of the Lymposs & Smee cart, [Can You Identify These Locations?]I think I remember their logo being a green triangle.

“The milk was bottled in a factory just round the corner from Haydon Place, via an access way called The Bars. As there were two metal bars, you had to zig zag round which led to York Road and on to Allen House Grounds where there were tennis courts. Here there were archways that led to “The Pits” as I knew them to be called, vast undulating mounds of grass. Quite creepy at night time!

Then there was the good old Sandfield Drill Hall, the Seven Corners, the Elm Tree pub and a little sweet shop owned I think by a Mr Jones on the corner, where I would stop for sweets every morning on my way to Sandfield and Stoke Schools.

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