The Iconic Wooden Bridge Pub Enters a New Era Following a Six-figure Refurbishment

Published on: 14 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 14 Feb, 2026

The Wooden Bridge pub, positioned to take advantage of passing trade form the original Guildford bypass.

By David Reading with additional notes by David Rose

The Wooden Bridge is an iconic Guildford pub with a rich history and with so many pubs facing major viabity challenges many will be pleased to hear that it plans to keep going after a major refurbishment.

For years, from the late 1950s onwards, the pub, at the bottom of Woodbridge Hill, was one of the leading rock music venues of the South East, featuring bands such as the Rolling Stones before they hit it big, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and Eric Clapton’s first band, the Roosters.

The Primevals at the Wooden Bridge. Picture: Geoff Burch.

The list goes on and on… the Herd, Ten Years After, the Vapors, the Stranglers and local bands such as the Whisky Ring, the Primevals and the Phantom Four.

The Phantom Four were no strangers to the Wooden Bridge. This photo was taken elsewhere.

The Wooden Bridge is now entering a new phase, with news that it has reopened following a six-figure refurbishment.

The pub is going all out to expand its clientele – with general manager Ian Geldard describing “enhanced bar and dining areas” and an emphasis on attracting sports fans. The Wooden Bridge of the 21st century has a sports zone with pool and darts and TVs showing live action.

My own memories of the Wooden Bridge go back to the mid 1950s. As a child I lived in a small Dennis Bros house in Midleton Road – just around the corner from the pub – and the pub car park was our playground.

Throughout the Sixties and beyond, the pub’s Sunday night gigs drew people from miles around. In 1967 we paid something like five shillings (25p) to hear some of the big names in rock. The evenings could get quite raucous. On one occasion someone let off a tear gas canister, resulting in the place being emptied in five seconds flat!

The newly refurbished Wooden Bridge pub at Woodbridge Hill, Guildford.

Now the pub enters a new era following refurbishment.

The pub’s general manager Ian Geldard said: “It’s great to be back open to show off our fresh new look. Whether you’re here for a chat with friends, to catch the latest prime sports fixtures or enjoy a game of pool or darts, the atmosphere is warm and friendly.”

The bar area following the refurbishment

Local historian and musician, David Rose writes…

According to the now late Mark Sturley in his book The Breweries and Public Houses of Guildford, the site of what was originally named Wooden Bridge Hotel was acquired by the brewery Courage & Co. Ltd from dairymen A. H. Belcher and Alfred Holder on December 31, 1934, for £1,700. On March 24, 1935, it was conveyed to Courage’s subsidiary brewing company, Farnham United Breweries.

The Guildford and Godalming Bypass was completed in 1934 and the site of the Wooden Bridge Hotel was a prime one, situated as it was at the junction of the bypass and Woodbridge Hill leading to main roads Aldershot Road and Worplesdon Road, and also in the middle of a developing industrial and residential area.

Sturley adds the building was constructed in 1936, the licence being transferred from an old pub, the Anchor & Hope at St Catherine’s, Guildford.

The Anchor & Hope pub (also known as St Catherine’s Inn) is now a residential house.

The assets of Farnham United Breweries was transferred to Courage in 1951. It had an extensive refurbishment in 1989.

Going back to the site when it was a dairy farm, my late mum recalled that the owners kept goats.

The original Wooden bridge Hotel was known as a ‘roadhouse pub’. Situated as Mark Sturtley noted on the junction of what were to become busy main roads, in the post-Second World War decades it was a popular stop-off for coaches taking daytrippers to and from the south coast.

Not a coach from out of the area taking people on a trip to the coast, but a Guildford-based Cooke’s Coaches vehicle of the same era. It is coming under the railway bridge at the foot of Woodbridge Hill and turning right to go on up the hill while passing the Wooden Bridge Hotel.

Coaches would come from as far as the counties to the west and even north of London.

Back then, on summer Sunday evenings when there probably wasn’t a lot to do, people living on Woodbridge Hill and Stoughton would gather by the Wooden Bridge Hotel to watch the coaches as they took their weary daytrippers back home.

The terrace in front of the building would have made a good vantage point, and perhaps mingling with the daytrippers as they had a drink or two.

Rhythm and blues nights hosted by the Ricky Tick club at the Wooden Bridge Hotel. This was 1963.

In addition to David Reading’s list of the bands that played there in the 1960s, it’s worth mentioning the venue was one of those hired by Philip Haywood and John Mansfield’s Ricky Tick clubs. The other Guildford venue being the Plaza ballroom in Onslow Street.

In my book Guildford Remember When, co-written with the late Bernard Parke, I included John Mansfield’s recollection of hiring the Rolling Stones to play at the Wooden Bridge Hotel on March 9, 1963, one of five bookings for the band there that year.

An unknown band at the Wooden Bridge in 1967. Photo by Geoff Burch.

He recalled: “The pub was full with paying fans and it was just as well that Philip had recruited three new bouncers for the night.

“Inside, the fans were foot stompin’ and hand waving. Girls were perched on people’s shoulders ready to watch the band. Unfortunately, there was a lot of people outside who could not get in. Suddenly, the fire doors were ripped open and more fans started to pour in. The newly recruited bouncers had a struggle to maintain order, which they did with good humour and without resisting to violence.

“At the end of the evening, as Philip was paying the bouncers, he expected them to say they were not interested in further work at the Wooden Bridge. However, although their clothes were torn, they were happy – and were looking forward to the following Friday!”

The function room at the Wooden Bridge was hired for other events too – such as dinner dances and clubs’ and societies’ presentation evenings.

In the function room of the Wooden Bridge, possibly 1958 – before the era of the rock and blues bands. Picture: Dave Salmon, Geoff Burch collection.

This picture above, taken by the late Dave Salmon, shows such an event at the Wooden Bridge Hotel.

The said menu card. Dave Salmon, Geoff Burch Collection.

And that photo may be connected with the menu card for the 1958 annual dinner dance of the Guildford’s Phoenix Cycling Club.

Circular Tours in 1979 – no swearing on stage!

Come the late 1970s, the Wooden Bridge continued to have live music. The first band I was in, Circular Tours, played there in 1979. I remember when we asked if we could “have a gig” there, the women behind the bar who booked the bands said: “Yes, but no swearing on stage.”

I think live music continued there into about the mid-1980s. The big function room on the side then became a kind of pool hall for some years.

Do any Dragon readers have memories of the Wooden Bridge? We’d love to hear from you.