White Horse Hotel, Aberystwyth

White Horse Hotel, Portland Street / Terrace Road, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion

The inn at the corner of Terrace Road and Portland Street dates back to at least 1838 when Mr Edward Jones was Landlord. The Rea family took over in 1864, and ran the pub until the 1930s. As well as the hotel, the Reas ran an adjacent grocery stores, and had a wine & spirits merchants business in Aberystwyth.

In 1906, Mr JC Rea installed a new frontage to the building with tiles and decorative windows. The alterations were carried out by Messrs Parnall and Sons, of London, and Bristol.

In 1906: "The firm is the oldest firm of wine and spirit merchants in Aberystwyth and that department will be continued in an extended form. To deal with the demand on this department special accommodation has had to be provided in a duty-paid warehouse and bottling store, a place of five storeys in Corporation Street. In connection with this department, Mr Rea is solo agent at Aberystwyth for Whitbread and Co's ales and StvuL, Idris and Co's mineral waters and also stocks Schweppe's and Appolinaris waters. A few years ago, Mr Rea visited Germany and made arrangements to obtain at first hand light summer wines of great purity and excellence. The firm are bottlers of Bass's ales and Guinness's stout, supply Wrexham lager beer, and Devonshire cider, and have a special 'Black Bottle' whisky which, with Plynlymon water, is a perfect blend of the purest whisky out of Scotland with the purest water in Wales."

Source: http://pint-of-history.wales