Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565

John Johnson, the venerable gentlemen with the white beard seen seated in this photo amidst his family, was a leading citizen of Dunstable in the days when the town was a well-known stopping point for horse-drawn coaches travelling along the Watling Street.

He was landlord of the Sugar Loaf Hotel in High Street North and had run the business for over half a century until his death in December 1870.

The Sugar Loaf, in its heyday, was Dunstable’s most prestigious inn. It catered for the nobility and other high-class travellers, and discouraged visits by less-distinguished folk who came to the town in stagecoaches.

This deliberate policy to be exclusively upper-class came about after the rich heiress Jane Cart bought the business in 1717 and substantially renovated the building. The date can still be seen, misleadingly, on the Sugar Loaf’s guttering but there are earlier references to the inn.

Sugar Loaf host John Johnson and his family.

It’s mentioned in the will of George Briggs in 1692 and on the burial record of John Lee, “innkeeper of The Sugar Loaf” in 1688. The building seems to have been called The Grocers Arms in earlier times and used a sugar loaf cone as its sign.

John Jones succeeded his uncle Thomas Coates as the inn’s landlord and was host to many prestigious visitors. They included Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who stopped to change horses at the inn on July 26 1841. They were on a four-hour journey from Windsor to Woburn Abbey, where they were to be guests of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford.

Townsfolk gave the Royal couple a warm welcome to Dunstable. Opposite the Sugar Loaf a triumphal arch covered with branches of trees, flags and crowns had been erected. On either side of this was a tier of seats filled with elegantly dressed spectators and a large number of waggons containing school children and women employed in the manufacture of straw bonnets.

John Johnson was related to Dr Joseph Farr (1793-1867) founder of a dynasty of local doctors who served in the Dunstable area for many generations. A plaster bust of Dr Farr, modelled by P. Pierallini of Luton, once stood in the foyer of the Sugar Loaf.

Mr Johnson’s death at the age of 79 was widely mourned in Dunstable. Most shops were closed during his funeral and blinds were drawn in private houses. The Dunstable Gazette, in a fulsome tribute, said: “He never was so happy as when he was engaged in some act of unobtrusive benevolence.”

Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.

Dunstable Yesteryear - Venerable host of the Sugar Loaf