

grid reference TL 853 642
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CAMRA West Suffolk & Borders branch.
last updated 31/01/2019
Bury St Edmunds Suffolk Hotel
also traded as as: le Greyhounde
historical era: late 20th centuryopened 16th century
closed 1996
35 to 38 Buttermarket
A former Commercial & Family Hotel and posting house, the current building dates from 1833, when it was rebuilt and changed its name from the Greyhound to the Suffolk Hotel. The original Greyhound building dated back to at least the 16th century.
It's shown (though not named) on this old OS map from about the end of the 19th century. larger map
It is sometimes claimed that the nearby abbey owned the house as early as 1295 and although the precise date may be open to dispute, there is no gainsaying the fact that it was owned by the monks, for at the Dissolution in 1539 they surrendered the property to the Crown. It was subsequently leased at a yearly rental of £5 6s 8d to Thomas Brown, who combined his trade of mercer to that of innkeeper."Inns and Inn Signs of Norfolk and Suffolk", Alfred Hedges
The larger coaching entrance was blocked up before 1880s (see early pictures). The horse drawn coaches on the right then took the hotel guests to and from the railway station.
In 1912 it is also described as having a motor garage & pits on the premises.
The building is now used as retail premises.
Suffolk Shades was located to rear of premises for some time in more recent times.
Sadly one person now said to haunt the building is a woman, in life a doctor, who committed suicide here in 1981 and is claimed to still have a lasting presence in room number 63!
(Most pub, location & historic details collated by Nigel, Tony or Keith - original sources are credited)
(1861 census information from Malcolm Fairley)
(** report reproduced with kind permission from Foxearth & District Local History Society)
(*** historic newspaper information from Bob Mitchell)
Old OS map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.