Page 99 - Froghall Drive Our Story

The Victoria Arms – 1 Easthampstead Road
Up to 1901

The original house was one of a pair of late 18th century brick tenements in Easthampstead Road,

then known as Star Lane. In 1847 the beer house was bought by Hewetts Brewery.

In l85l Henry Baldwin bought the adjacent property and expanded his main business, building

coaches, not merely their wheels. The business flourished, but in 1861 it was sold to George Lush.
George Lush did so well that within a few years he was supplying coaches to the Royal Family. The

pub and the coach-building firm were run by the same family until 1907. The last licensee and
coachbuilder was Frank Lush.

1901 to 2011

The Warren House – Forest Road

Up to 1901

The name is derived from Warren House, the name of the farm that stood on the site as early as
1681. In turn the farm probably took its name from a medieval rabbit warren, which is thought to

have existed in this part of Wokingham; owning a warren was then a privilege.

The first known reference to the building as a public house is in an advertisement in the Reading

Mercury of 15th November 1777, which announced a pigeon shoot "at the Warren House, Mr
Calloway’s".