Old King’s Arms Hotel, Pembroke

Old King’s Arms Hotel, Pembroke

Old photo of the King's Arms Hotel, PembrokeThis former coaching inn is said to be the oldest hostelry in Pembroke. Its deeds date back to the 1520s. The frontage was built in the Georgian era, a period of prosperity for the town. Pembroke was then still the most important port on the Milford Haven waterway, before its maritime importance was eclipsed by Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock.

Another feature from this age of plenty is the Chinese Chippendale staircase inside the hotel. It’s in the style of 18th-century furniture maker Thomas Chippendale but with embellishments reflecting the fashion for Chinese visual arts.

The old photo, courtesy of Pembroke & Monkton Local History Society, shows the hotel’s frontage around the start of the 20th century.

In the mid-19th century the landlord here was town councillor John Miller, who narrowly escaped serious injury in 1871 while driving his horse-drawn “dog cart” down the hill from Pembroke to Pembroke Dock. He misjudged a turning in the darkness and steered over the edge of an embankment.

John’s sister Jane Miller presented a basket of fish, butter, eggs and cream to Queen Victoria when the royal yacht visited Milford Haven in August 1847. The queen wrote in her diary: “A very pretty dairy-maid in complete Welsh costume was brought on board for me to see.”

The hotel was a popular venue for events. In 1891 Captain Saunders-Davies of Pentre treated his soldiers, the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry Cavalry’s A Troop, to dinner here. In August 1902 a dinner was held here in honour of Gunner Dudley Griffiths, newly returned from the South African (Boer) War. He had been wounded in the British defeat at Hart’s River in March 1902.

Auctions were often held in the hotel. In 1889 it was the venue for the sale, by shipping insurer Lloyd’s, of the wreck of a steamer which had struck a rock near St Govan’s Head while carrying Welsh steam coal to Belfast.

Auctioneer Thomas Young lived in the hotel, where he died in 1892 after contracting influenza. He had been secretary of the area’s Farmer’s Club and Fat Cattle Show for c.15 years.

The hotel has been owned by the Wheeler family for more than 50 years. At the rear of the building is a mural created by local schoolchildren to depict Henry Tudor’s landing at Mill Bay in 1485.

With thanks to Keith Johnson of Pembroke & Monkton Local History Society for the photo

Postcode: SA71 4JS    View Location Map

Website of Old King’s Arms Hotel