The Star
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The Star, despite its appearance, is Hoddesdon’s oldest surviving inn, dating from1450. The red-brick frontage was a Georgian addition. It was known as The Star in 1518 when it was owned by John Borrell, a serjeant-at-arms to Henry VIII. When Lord Burghley bought it in 1580 it was called The Black Lion and by 1826 it was The Salisbury Arms, a name it kept until 2014 when it reverted to the original name of The Star following a major refurbishment. The work carried out then revealed an open-hall structure and Tudor wall paintings of national importance. Being one of the largest buildings in the town the Star has been used for various purposes as well as serving as an inn: for example, court meetings, as the town’s post office and inland revenue office, for civic dinners and, around the end of the 19th century, as Hoddesdon Town Football Club’s headquarters and dressing room. Now continue south to the White Swan.
