The Tichborne Arms is a well-known country pub on the Tichborne Estate, close to Alresford. In 2022 the pub re-opened, after some significant modernisation of the main bar, and extension of the building to include the area between the pub and the outhouses that contain the toilets used by the guests. In addition the garden and car parking facilities have been extended, with new shelters a separate play area, and many more tables.
One of the previous ‘fixtures’ in the bar at the Tichborne Arms was a local man called John Primmer. Anyone visiting the pub would have met John at the bar – indeed it was rumoured that the pub had a special barrel of beer allocated to John, which had to be replaced on a weekly basis.
The locally produced booklet ‘Tichborne 2000; A portrait of a small parish in the year 2000’ gave some of his background. He was born in Tichborne, went to school in Tichborne, Cheriton and then Perins, leaving there in 1952 to start work at Grange Farm, and retired in 2000. He lived at New White Cottage, but apparently spent lunch and evening times at the pub, where he looked after the garden – he was also keen on cricket, and was the Tichborne wicket keeper for 20 years, then an umpire for the Club.
The main image of John that a lot of the previous visitors to the Tichborne Arms remember was the life-size mural, painted on the wall of the toilet block, showing John apparently working in the pub garden. This is pictured above!
If anyone can add anything to this story, or knows who painted the mural on the toilet wall, please get in touch!
alresfordmemories 