The White Horse (Nellie’s)

Housed in one of the oldest surviving buildings in Beverley, the earliest record of it being a coaching inn is 1666.

Francis Collinson and his large family had rented the property from the church an ran it as an inn for many years.  One of the sons trained horses in Norwood, and there was a saddlers shop somewhere in the building.

In 1927 the Collinsons bought the property from the church, and eventually one of the Daughters, Nellie became the licensee of the premises.

In the 1960s, every week, Nellie and her Sister Dorothy would scrub the stone flag floors, take down the net curtains and wash them.  Their brother cleaned the gas mantles and often black – leaded the cast iron fireplaces.

In 1976 the White Horse was sold to a Brewery.  Some changes have been for the better, glasses are no longer washed in the same bowl of water all night!  The ale there is excellent, but few people under the age of 50 have tasted the real ‘Nellie’s Old’ – now that was an experience.