Banstead Village

The Tangier Inn

This image was included in the reprint of the Banstead History Research Group publication titled "Banstead - Three Lectures on its history" by Sir Henry Lambert and is included here by kind permission of the current owner, Michael Lambert.

Sir Henry says "I have a sketch of the Tangier Inn as it was in 1826. At that time there was an approach by a sloping roadway which has now been cutaway, and a small pond opposite. Below the picture is a pencil note that the Tangier is said to be the oldest public house between London and Brighton, and to have been in the possession of one family, Jeal, for over a century."

We don't have any evidence of this fire but this is a short extract from "The Brighton Road; speed, sport, and history on the classic highway to the south" by Charles George Harper first published in 1892:

The " Tangier " was burnt down about 1874. For some years after its destruction a platform that led from the house to the roadside, on a level with the floors of the coaches and post-chaises, survived ; but only the cellars now remain. The woods at the back are, however, still locally known as "Tangier Woods."

In 1931 Lambert mentions that it had been demolished 'many years ago'.

The Inn was along the Brighton Road roughly opposite Aberdour School.

In the 1860s a Mr. Forsdick of the Tangier Inn used to advertise accommodation for horses and trainers during the Epsom Derby period.

The Electoral register for 1875 shows one Benjamin Forsdick at the Tangier but there could have been a delay in taking him off the list. Neither Forsdick nor The Tangier is included in the 1876 or 1877 electoral roll but The Mint, The Woolpack, The Victoria and the Black Boy Inn are all there.

John Court of BHRG says " I have on occasion researched the Jeal family who had the Tangier Inn for many years. As far as I can see the two Jeals, who had some attachment to the Inn, were brother and sister and on their death their estates went to a nephew, an inn owner, on the South Bank of the Thames possibly Southwark, Surrey."