High St. No. 64 (The Co-Op)

This building was probably built in the late 16th or early 17th century as a timber framed house.  The façade was added in the 19th century.  The roof has machine tiles and the central chimney stack has been removed. Inside the ceilings are very low and the rooms upstairs have wattle and daub division walls.

Up to the 1830’s this building was simply a cottage in the High Street. In 1831 it was bought by Michael Smith who was the innkeeper of the Crown Inn. In 1838 he leased the house to a Harpenden brewer, James Curtis. It became the Queen Victoria, a free beerhouse and was offered as such for sale in 1872. The sale documents give an insight into the arrangement of the building. Upstairs there were four bedrooms, downstairs a bar, a parlour taproom and out the back a wash house. The plot had a side entrance, garden, a barn in which wood was stored and a well. Mrs. Walker bought the property but Ann Lattimore ran it until 1880 when it was sold again to John Lloyd who had links with the Kingsbury Brewery Company .Another sale in 1889 saw it being acquired by J.W.Green Brewery Company. Other people associated with the premises were Robert Young (1886-1915) Mrs. Agnes George (1922-1928) the Beckwiths (1929-1937) John Edwards (1937-1955) and lastly Bertram Noar 1956 until the premises were closed in 1968.

In 1971 it, along with the shop at No.66 were converted into a supermarket. It has had various owners – Roberts, Circle K, Alldays and then in 2003 the Co-op.