The Dick Whittington
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Then
A county education report of June 1951 found no pubs on the estate at all. At a meeting at Hampden School in January 1952, officials said pubs were among the things planned. The Dick Whittington, on Prestwick Road at the corner of Little Oxhey Lane, was the first of the estate's five pubs to open. Poor But Proud dates its opening to 1957, and local historian Neil Hamilton gives the same year. The Jet followed in 1959, and by the end of 1961 the Pheasant, the Grapevine and the Pavilion, in the old golf clubhouse, were all open too. From the estate's early years an open strip between Muirfield Road and Ashridge Drive was kept clear for an orbital road. Local historians say it would have crossed Prestwick Road near the pub on a flyover. The scheme was later dropped. The pub was refurbished and taken over by new management in January 2017, though by December 2019 it was looking neglected.5,25,113,119,126,142,165,230,237,365,429,490
Now
Municipal Dreams noted in 2022 that the Jet, the Pheasant (later the Ox) and the Grapevine had been pulled down for housing and the Pavilion was boarded up. The Dick Whittington is the only one of the five still trading. CAMRA lists it as open daily, with a veranda, pool, darts and a garden.
Mentioned in
- Life on the Estate: Shops, pubs and services Life on the Estate
- Schools: No schools at all Life on the Estate
- Shops, pubs and services: The five pubs Life on the Estate
- Change and renewal: The road that was never built Renewal
- Schools, churches and shops Walk
Position from OpenStreetMap. See Sources and method.