The known resident landlords before and during the postcard era were:

W. Smart (1859 - 1878)
Wm. Pennicott (1878 - 1890)
Walter Duke (1890 - 1913)
George A. Ford (1913 - 192?)
Archibald Cheer (early 1920s)
J.O. Cave (1926 - 1927)
W.J. Holland (1927 - ?)
George Frederick Taylor (1938 - ?)

Houghton Bridge Inn was originally built as a farmhouse, and became an inn sometime in the early 1800s and can be seen on the OS map on the Houghton Bridge page.

Bridge Inn No.1 is dated 1912 in ink on the front, but the picture would have been taken sometime before this. It is one of a series by Cecil Travers of Brighton and Hove. Note that there is no door at the far left of the frontage at this time. The railway and the end of the Amberley station platform are clearly visible in the background.

Bridge Inn No.2 is a photograph of a postcard, possibly published in the early 1920s, and a door has been added far left. The writing on the wall has been replaced with a name board. The charabanc in front has no doubt delivered a party of visitors.

Bridge Inn No.3 shows the wall patched and with non matching paint in places. The car suggests mid 1920s and the board above the hotel entrance shows the proprietor as J.O. Cave who was there in 1926/7, so this dates the picture. The card was posted in Ashtead in June 1927, and was by White of Littlehampton.

Bridge Inn No.4 is by W. Bullen of Forest Hill, London and may have been printed when a new proprietor, George Frederick Taylor, took over in 1938. Note the spelling errors in the legend!

Frequent press reports mentioning the Inn reflect its importance to the community:

In the early days it was used for inquests into local river drownings (1867 & 1882). The Trust for the turnpike from Storrington to Balls Hut met here from as early as 1812. Land auctions were also recorded and, given the close juxtaposition of the Railway and the River Arun, it’s not surprising that fishing competitions were popular events here. More unusual to modern ears were the meetings of the Amberley Rat and Sparrow Club which rewarded the destruction of “vermin”!

This card of the inn with soldiers in front was sent to Miss W. Marchant in Brighton. The text ("Dear W, from AJ”) mentions the possibility of meeting. It was posted in Brighton on 21 May 1915 and the publisher is unknown.

The identity of the soldiers has not been established but it may be a group in training on the South Downs prior to WW1. The date of the photograph could be from 1913, as the proprietor is George A. Ford who started that year.

We can see that there is no door on the left of the building which is consistent with this date.