A historic inn that has hosted the royal family and a prime minister
The White Horse, Romsey, is a rare surviving example of a late-medieval or Tudor, purpose-built inn. Its layout and internally exposed main timbers reveal it was constructed sometime between 1450 and 1530.
Evidence of a previous building on the site might be the remains of an earlier hostelry built in the 1100s and belonging to the nearby Romsey abbey. Some sections of the early decorative wall paintings, dating from the mid-1500s to early-1700s have survived and can be seen preserved in the ground-floor lounge.
In the mid-1700s, The White Horse benefited from the beginning of the coaching era, being on the road between the ecclesiastical centres of Winchester and Salisbury, and the commercially important road between London and the growing port of Poole, in Dorset. The latter road was also used by King George III and his family when travelling between Windsor Castle and their summer-holiday home at Weymouth, in Dorset. On the journey, the royal party rested and changed horses at The White Horse, on at least two occasions, in 1801 and 1802.
In about 1823, a modernisation of The White Horse included creating the Georgian façade that survives today. The investment enabled the inn to maintain its high status despite the loss of the coaching trade when a railway line was built through Romsey in 1847. The White Horse was still the town’s principal inn during the 1850s and 60s when Lord Palmerston, first as Home Secretary and then as Prime Minister, visited and gave nationally important speeches.
The White Horse was purchased in 1920 by Trust Houses Ltd, the country’s emerging first national hotel chain, which did much to preserve the fabric of the building. The company’s eventual successor, Forte Group plc, sold The White Horse in 2001, after which it endured a troubled period during which successive changes in ownership resulted in its future viability coming under serious doubt. It was saved in 2021 when it was bought by The Coaching Inn Group, which immediately invested in upgrading the hotel to meet the needs of today’s customers while also being dedicated to preserving its historic fabric and story.
