This article appeared in the Spring 2006 edition of the Newsletter.

For photographs of the Wheatsheaf Hotel, click here

In the nineteenth century, travellers between Portsmouth and London who needed food, a bed for the night or spare horses could choose between two Liphook coaching inns. The Blue Anchor was the more famous, and it received the royal charter after King George III and Queen Charlotte stayed there. The Wheatsheaf, a mile down the road (see the photograph, below right), was its bitter rival. There were annual stagecoach races between the two hotels between Liphook and Petersfield, with wagers being made on both sides. Rivalry was intense, and on one occasion the Anchor coachman forced his rival into the ditch.

With the coming of the Portsmouth Direct Railway line in 1859, horse-drawn traffic was reduced, and the Wheatsheaf’s inn and stables were transformed into a hotel by Friary Meux Brewery and renamed The Links. It had 7 bedrooms and one of its managers was John Skiff’s father Roy, who ran the hotel from 1955 to 1969.

When Liphook Golf Company was formed in 1922 it rented the house next to the hotel which is still called the old clubhouse; it provided an office for the secretary, a meeting room, locker rooms and a small bar/coffee room. The hotel met any other needs.

The Black Huts over the road housed the pro’s shop and workshop, the caddymaster, green staff, irrigation tank, numerous carts and a stable for the Club’s black mare. Bohunt Manor Golf Club also used the clubhouse at first but as its membership increased, a clubroom was built for them next to the Black Huts. 

After the war the Club tried to purchase the Links Hotel to use it as a clubhouse; when that was turned down, the Club moved in 1949 to the present site with at first a temporary clubhouse. Friary Meux Brewery sold the Links to Mr and Mrs Grace in 1985, and they sold it to  Richard Northcott in 2000. Richard carried out a modernization programme, and the Links was sold to Fuller’s Brewery of Chiswick in 2002.

The hotel now stands to benefit from tourism which should increase following its inclusion in the National Park; it has recently received planning permission for 35 extra bedrooms. Fuller’s will review the market later this year.

/-- Liphook Archive Information --/
#Medium:Document#
#Location:Website#
#Date Of Event:19th Century#
#Date Item Created:2006#
#Author:Tony Rudgard#
#Copyright:#