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The Chequers was situated on Ampthill Road. This pub closed c2000.
From Bedfordshire Heritage:
The Chequers Inn is in the parish of Houghton Conquest. It is situated outside the main village centre, and stands on the east side of the main Ampthill to Bedford road at How End. IT is a Whitbread house, having previously belonged to the Flowers brewery. The deeds are not held in the CRO. The only reference to the property in the SMR (County Planning Department) is the original listed building description. The property is no longer listed. This research was undertaken in an attempt to identify the inn in Houghton Conquest for which the architect Henry Holland made plans for the 5th Duke of Bedford in about 1790 - the date being given by Colvin, citing Dorothy Stroud's biography of Holland, as c 1792. The source of the information is not stated, but if the inn was built then of all the public houses in Houghton Conquest the Chequers is the most likely candidate, since: - It is on a main road outside the village centre (i.e. a good commercial site for an inn) - The property is of late C18th or early C19th appearance. - The documentary evidence suggests that the Chequers was in existence by 1798 - within ten years of Holland's scheme. - There is no other inn in Houghton Conquest with which the Duke of Bedford had any known connections at this date. On the other hand, the negative factors include: - The site was not owned by the Duke of Bedford for whom the designs were prepared. Would he have been involved in a private scheme? - The building is substantial but unremarkable - more likely to be the work of a local builder or architect rather than by a major C18th architect of Holland's standing.
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