Mitre Inn, Chipping Barnet

In 1633, there were three inns adjacent to each other on the east side of the High Street: the Rose (kept by Robert Briscoe), the Crown, and a wine tavern known as the Man. In 1663, they joined to become the Man and Rose and Crown. In 1667, the inn became The Rose and Crown and Mitre, and simply the Mitre soon after. By 1817, 150 coaches a day were passing through Chipping Barnet, but the meat trade had already shifted from Barnet to more central areas of London and after the coach trade declined too with the development of the railways in the mid nineteenth century, the Mitre became a public house rather than the larger establishment typical of a coaching inn. Later licensees of the Mitre…

Today, the Mitre is styled "Ye Olde Mitre Inne". It occupies a much smaller plot than in its coaching heyday but is probably the oldest remaining of the town's once numerous coaching inns and a grade II listed building with Historic England. It retains its timber frame but has been refronted and stuccoed. Its etched windows were added in the twentieth century. The land at the rear, once used for stabling, has long since been turned to other uses. An archaeological investigation of that area was carried out in 2005.