The Coopers Arms, Tilehouse Street, Hitchin.

In c.1750, 81 Tilehouse Street, Hitchin was owned  by the brewer William Lucas.  Later, it is believed that the historian Reginald Hine and the etcher F. L. Griggs, would meet in the parlour.

John Webb was the landlord until he died in 1887.  He would run a horse-drawn taxi to the railway station to collect customers.  Both John Webb, and the next landlord, Edward Chapman, would hire out bikes, brakes and waggonettes from the premises.

The Coopers Arms was bought by McMullens in 1887.

It is said that the building is home to strange paranormal happenings. Reported is the manifestation of a white cat that walks through the bar and disappears through the wall. It’s said that before renovations took place some years ago, when there was a small bar at the front of the public house, the landlord’s dog would bark repetitively at the wall for no apparent reason. A dark, shadowy figure of a monk is said to appear at the Coopers Arms. It is claimed that some of the pub’s regulars have seen the monk, which is reputed to float through the pub and out into Tilehouse Street. Some even believe the monk to have one leg. A regular, in 1971, reported his beer glass apparently moving along the bar by an invisible presence. 
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My best selling ebook Her Last Lie is available HERE  All ebook royalties go to Cancer Research UK in memory of my amazing sister. Her Last Lie is a psychological thriller, with a  chapter devoted to Hitchin, and the main character lives in Letchworth.