AS CUSTOMERS busy themselves in Barclays Bank in the Market Place, little do they know that at a site dating back to the 16th century, one of the oldest and most important coaching inns of the town... the Angel.
The earliest reference to the Angel Inn is in a document dated 1541. The inn sign probably referred to the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, but after the reformation, the sign became known as the Angel.
The building was built around and over a large entrance which gave access to the spacious yard, where stables gave shelter to the many horses used to transport customers to the building.
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The Angel Inn was purchased by James Deane, in 1589, from Ingram Frizer.
The Deane family were associated with the inn in several ways, for in 1607, Sir James Deane (who founded the almshouses in London Street) left £1 a year for the repair of the causeway that led from the Angel to St Michael’s Church (this being Church Street).
When stagecoaches came into being, in the 17th century, the inn’s yard would be the scene of much activity as passengers came and went, and the horses were changed for fresh ones. The mail coaches would also stop here to rest en route to London and back.
The rear of the inn held the Assembly Rooms where Jane Austen, the novelist, used to learn to dance.
Later, she was to attend some of the dances at the Town Hall opposite, which, in those days, was on the corner of Church Street and Winchester Street.
The arrival of the railway in 1839 greatly diminished the number of stagecoaches on which the Angel relied for custom, and by 1842, only one, known as The Rocket, ran between Basingstoke and Reading.
In the 1840s, the inn was kept by R Curtis, who also kept other trades, these being railway agent, brewer, malt merchant, wine and spirit dealer, and farmer.
Although stagecoaches no longer brought customers to the inn, there was still a great deal of business carried on by local residents. In May 1856, an account was rendered for supplying 2,060 dinners at a shilling apiece.
But the end of the Angel’s long life in the centre of the town was inevitable, and on March 1, 1866, the inn was closed for business.
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Two weeks later an auction was held to sell the many fittings and furniture. These included 17 prime feather beds of the four-poster and tent variety, 11 cab horses, 40 barrels of old ale, and various horse carriages, including two omnibuses.
The inn contained many rooms, including bedrooms, sitting rooms, coffee rooms, commercial rooms, a bar, a smoking room, a dairy and a kitchen.
The proprietor, William Lodder, retired from business and he was presented with a carved meerschaum pipe by the tradesmen and local corporation at the Black Boy tavern on April 4, 1866, as well as other gifts. (The Black Boy later became the Hop Leaf, then McCarthy’s Bar, in Church Street).
After the Angel closed down, the building was converted into a draper’s shop, then it became a warehouse for furniture.
In 1880 it was opened as a temperance café by a group of gentlemen, who called it the “Old Angel Café Company Limited.”
It remained as such until 1915 when Barclays Bank acquired the right-hand side of the site.
Over the following years, demolition of the building took place to convert part of it for the bank and the other part for the International Stores – the latter being built on the left side of the site.
The International Stores had originally been at 21 London Street in 1895, then moved to 1 Market Place for 25 years until its final site opposite the Town Hall.
Meanwhile, in the 1930s, the upper part of the International became Dorothy’s Café. Then, in 1947, it was acquired by a new owner and called the Opera Restaurant until it closed down in 1969. The International moved to the new shopping centre in 1970, then closed down in 1981.
Meanwhile, the frontage of the International was changed to house the furniture store of Hardy and Co, which closed down in 1980.
From then on, Barclays Bank moved in to enlarge their business, thus taking over the whole site that the Angel inn was on.
This article was written by Robert Brown and published on Friday, October 1, 2004.
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