By John C Pulford
Standing halfway between central Walton and the village of Hersham, The Halfway House was once a well known landmark on the corner of Hersham Road and Station Avenue by the Halfway Green. Its first known mention is in Pigot’s Directory of 1839, soon after the arrival of the railway in Walton in 1838, so it is unsurprising that it was also known as the Railway Tavern.
Ownership of the land was in the Champronier family from 1852 until they sold it to Brandon’s Putney Brewery in 1897. From 1895 to 1922 the inn was listed in local directories as The Halfway House and Railway Tavern. Brandon’s Putney Brewery became part of Mann Crossman and Paulin, and in a 1930 souvenir brochure of Walton, the proprietor of The Halfway House, Charles Moon, was offering “Rest and Refreshment” with “Quality, Value, Cleanliness and Good Service Our Speciality” Orders were “delivered anywhere”.
From 1959 the property was owned by Watney Mann Ltd and consequently became one of Watney’s ‘Schooner Inn’ chain of pub-restaurants. In 1972 it was given a major interior re-fit, in line with other memorable Schooner Inn refurbishments, and featured a giant ornamental tree built as if to grow from the ground floor to the upper floor restaurant area. In the 1970s and ‘80s it was probably better known locally as ‘The Schooner’ than it was The Halfway House. In 1991 it was heavily remodelled once again, this time externally, and renamed, ‘The Old Colonial Restaurant’. Although in 1998 the building was restored back to its traditional appearance, its revival did not last long and it was demolished in September 2003. An office block with a tapas bar and restaurant at street level was built on the site.
References: Inns and Taverns of Walton and Weybridge; A.G. Martin. Walton and Weybridge Local History Society 1999. A Window on Walton-on-Thames; J.L. & D.M. Barker 1994. Local directories. Photos: The Halfway House from Halfway Green c.1937, Courtesy of J.L. & D.M. Barker; The view from Halfway Green May 2020 by the author.