The White Bear
NEWPORT HISTORY SOCIETY INNS AND BEER HOUSES WALKING TOUR
125, HIGH STREET, NEWPORT
Previously ‘THE WHITE BEAR INN’ Licensed premises c.1694 to 1786
The earliest reference that we have for the White Bear Inn is 1694 in the will of the owner Richard Jones. The building, which you see today, is now called ‘Beaumaris House’ and is one of the finest early Georgian houses in Newport, possibly designed by the architect Francis Smith of Warwick.
It is dated 1724 on tablet close to the roof with the initials TJJ, thought to relate to the new inn owners, Thomas and Joan Johnson, who embarked on a grand refurbishment of both this and the building to the south just after they bought the inn in 1721. There is evidence for the original half-timbered 16th or 17th century houses in the form of chamfered ceiling beams and parts of the roof structure. The newly refurbished building is in Neoclassical style with large painted pilasters at each end. The front door also has neoclassical pilasters and pediment above. On the interior of the front door, there are York stone flags; possibly put in when it was an inn. On the right, you can see a small infill, which gave access from the High Street for coaches and horses. Inside this small building are large iron hinges for the now non-existent gates. The Inn’s land at the back was extensive and called the Bear Meadow. This ran down to Beaumaris Road and gave further access for coaches and gigs and, no doubt, grass for the horses.
The 1694 will of Richard Jones, however, talks of more than one brewhouse and a malt mill. Prior to the inn being sold in 1786, we are told that the inn was advertised as having a large hall, two parlours, one dining room, 13 lodging rooms, a kitchen, bar, brew-house, offices and very good and capacious cellars. Another sale in 1775 also mentioned stables, chaises-houses, a brewhouse and a further 25 acres lying adjacent to the property. The inn seems not to have been on a long-distance coaching stop over, but instead relied on posting services (hiring horses from one stage to another) and hiring of coaches and chaises.
Little remains of the inn of the 17th and 18th century since it became the smart private house of a solicitor, Thomas Morris, in 1786, later a girls’ school and, finally, dormitory accommodation for the Haberdashers Adams Grammar School.
Researched by Newport & District History Society
Funded by Newport and District History Society, Newport Town Council and BTW Pride in your High St funds.