When Saint Peter sees him coming,
He will leave the Gates ajar;
For He knows he's had his Hell on earth,
Has the man behind the bar

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Tony Pringle, Peter Norman and David Rippington, having spent much time, over many years, researching the old pubs of Newmarket, gathering information from other members such as Les Jewel, Joan Shaw and Mary Basham, decided it was time to bring all the data together in one place. This is it.... The exact status of each establishment is not always known, some may have been public houses as we know them or mere beerhouses, some "real hotels", some glorified lodging houses or indeed off licences. The history of most clubs is usually quite vague, their records being very much harder to find. It has not been possible to ascertain the dates of licence changes, the entries showing dates and licensees' name in most cases can only show there is a public reference to that person at those premises at the time. One insurmountable omission is the lack of census information for the St Mary's side of town in 1851. Somewhere in the mists of time this was lost or destroyed. All Saints side record did survive, but there was little that side of town at that time. Two other factors must delay completion of this task A..The Newmarket Journal archived copies are not on line, and there are 133 years worth of hard copy to read ! B..Since much of the time Newmarket was included in Cambridgeshire for records, it is to that County Records Office we must turn BUT that office is currently (November 2019) closed due to its removal to Ely, thus ruling out visits until early 2020. Being of the "belt and braces brigade", a book will also be compiled so that there is a hard copy of at least one stage of the project. Hopefully credit can be given for the images presented here, but as the photographs were collected by several persons, over very many years, the provenance of many is completely unknown. Even amongst ourselves, it cannot always be said for sure whether a photograph was given to Tony by Peter, or vice versa (and even then the origin was probably unrecorded). The majority though would have come from Peter Norman's vast collection of local photographs who also has images of the Newmarket postcards collected by an ex nativ eof Newmarket,the late Roger Newman. Many may be found on other websites, but were acquired by those mentioned above before websites had been invented. However our thanks go to the Newmarket Journal and the Old Newmarket website for their assistance at all times. Luckily most of our images were shot long ago and we believe out of copyright, but we do try to add a courtesy "thank you" where we do know the donor. please use webmaster@newmarketpubs.co.uk for any contact such as extra information, corrections and any possible copyright queries in order that we can quickly resolve matters WARNING All possible sources of information have been explored, but directories are not always the most accurate. It can be found at times that a directory places a publican in a pub for several years after his death. The census, 1939 register and licensing records and registers are better trusted sources.

Above is a map taken from Peter May's book "Newmarket Medieval and Tudor" with his impression of how Newmarket would have looked in 1472. The key is here. Most information from the distant past has been found from Peter May's series of books on Newmarket, which should be compulsory reading for all interested in Newmarket history outside of racing. Those who consider it unusual, the number of licensed premises in Newmarket should realise that as far back as the 15th century there were at least 12 alehouses or inns along the High Street At the end of WW2, provided you were a member of the various clubs, you could drink on the premises at no less than 17 places. Even as late as the 1980's, when I carried out a survey, Suffolk as a County was very high in the UK for the number of alcohol licences per head of population but Newmarket had about double that number. In comparison, today, 2020, the town verges on teetotal, except for the fact that there are so many off licences and licensed restaurants and drinking at home seems to be the choice of more natives.

#	tenants/owners	#	tenant/owners
1	John Balow aka Bladesmith, Ralph Balow	31	William, Thomas & Henry Cheveley
2	William Buntyng	32	Nicholas Bocher, William Jourdon
3	Thomas Helbye	33	Henry Cheveley
4	Ralph Balow	34	John Leycestre
5	John Wykes	35	Ralph Cooke
6	THE SHIP William Nameskyll	36	Roger Holyngworth
7	THE BEAR Thomas Depden	37	Richard Deresley
8	John Pere, Richard Gateward, John Laste	38	THE SWAN John Kyrkeby, Roger Holyngworth
9	William Aylenoth	39	THE GRIFFIN Willam Baron, Arthur Greysson, Leonard Beale, Richard Hamerton
10	William Palgrave, John Cracke	40	THE BULL Richard Motte, Arthur Greysson
11	John Ray, Ralph Hancocks, Thomas Percyvale	41	Ralph Lote
12	John Ray, Ralph Lote	42	SARACEN'S HEAD William Farwell, Roger Mayner, Arthur Greysson
13	Ralph & Richard Gateward, Ralph Lote	43	Vicar of Wickhambrook, Thomas Depden
14	John Leiston, Roger Holyngworth	44	John Ickelyngham, John Wyles
15	MAIDENHEAD John Archer, Henry Dale	45	The Dundich (Watercourse)
16	William Mey, Christopher Roughe	46	BULLSYARD John Wykes
17	THE SWORD John Higham, Arthur Greysson, John & David Ayers	47	Thomas Quylter, Ellis Jordon
18	The Pound John Higham, Richard Gatweward, John Bonde	48	John Kydde
19	THE CHRISTOPHER John Wright	49	Ralph Lote
20	THE BELL Henry Dale	50	Ralph Lote, John Cracke, Roger Holyngworth
21	John Upryght, John Yeresley	51	THE FANFAIR Simon Funston
22	John Upryght, John Yeresley	52	Ralph Lote, John Kevin
23	Thomas Depden	53	Ralph Lote, John Grygge
24	Katherine Poperyk	54	Ralph Lote, Henry Dale
25	John Wykes	55	THE FANFAIR WAY Simon Funston
26	John Bede	56	BULLSYARD
27	Thomas Pateryk	57	THE FAIRWAY Richard Motte, Arthur Greysson
28	THE RAM John Withall	58	SHRAGGERY ROW
29	THE HART John Redere, Prior of Fordham	59	FAIRSTEAD, or St Mary's Square
30	Walter Bocher, Henry Cheveley

Since the whole area has been completely redeveloped, below is a 1903 map of the Rookery
which hopefully can be updated when we find better maps detailing the various lanes

This aerial photo taken in the early 1920's shows several pubs/hotels
some of which had ceased to trade. For reference, the 2 green crosses were the trees either side of the gate to Albion Lodge
and were originally still in place when the Market Square was opened, exactly halfway along the car park square, opposite Autozone

Gould's Wine Store beer labels below
Goulds was later Linford's and now (2020) Corney & Barrow. Their yard was halfway along Rous Road on the east side.

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