Welcoming Strangers For Over 300 Years
The Welcome Stranger is a Grade II listed building set within a conservation area. Built in the late 1700's the Welcome Stranger was once a self-sufficient public house complete with its own granary and on-site brewery. The site also contained a number of other buildings including three Cottages, stables and even piggeries. In recent years the land which had once housed the granary has been redeveloped to become the current landlord, David Smith’s own private house.
The New Inn, then owned by Hannams Brewery of East Street, Andover, left the family sometime before 1906 until 5th August 1955 when Eric & Kath ran the brewery owned pub. On 26th February 1982 Kath & Eric purchased the pub from Strong & Co of Romsey. The brewery had owned the premises since 1936 and had been hoping to sell it as a private dwelling.
Things that go bump in the night
David's Great Grandmother, Anne Matilda Biddle, ran "The New Inn" around 1900, sometimes serving customers as early as 7am; whilst her husband was a shoemaker working from the pub.
Known as "The New Inn" for at least 150 years the pub was renamed in August 1985, thirty years after Eric & Kath Smith, David's parents, started working here. Eric worked at the pub until he was 91 but sadly passed away in December 2015 aged 92.
The pub is reputedly haunted. An outbreak of poltergeist activity was reported after building modifications were made to the dining room - bottles, ornaments and plates were smashed by unseen hands. Several people also reported seeing the ethereal outline of a figure, and locals claimed it to be the wraith of a former landlady murdered by her husband. In the 1970's a drayman had even refused to deliver beer as he had been so scared by the lady who still resides in the pub.
