Memories of Watford pub that became a McDonald's restaurant

A Watford Observer photographer visited the Hertfordshire Arms in July 1974 to take shots of staff and customers enjoying a drink after the pub had resumed trading.

Sadly, only one picture from that assignment has survived, but a snapper returned to the St Albans Road venue the following month to capture the proprietors behind the bar, together with an exterior view of the pub which is now a McDonald’s.

The St Albans Road pub reopened in July 1974 (Image: Watford Observer)

• A look inside a popular village pub near Watford in the past
• A glimpse inside a high street pub from the past
• Looking back at much-missed The Horns pub in the 1960s

We published an aerial view of the pub in an article last year in which Watford Museum’s volunteer archivist Christine Orchard said: “The Hertfordshire Arms was built in response to the newly developing North Watford area, to designs by J. C. F. James of Benskins Brewery.

The Hertfordshire Arms in 1974 (Image: Watford Observer)

“It appears to have followed a house style as the company were building pubs of a similar design at this time.

Behind the bar in August 1974 (Image: Watford Observer)

“This pub was opened on May 23, 1933 and the first landlord was Ernest L Wyndham.

A 1938 aerial view of the pub from The Pennant (Image: Watford Museum)

“This aerial view was printed in Benskins house magazine, The Pennant, in 1938.

The former pub is now home to a McDonald's (Image: Google Street View)

“Today, despite no longer being a pub after McDonald's converted it to a take away restaurant, the exterior of the building has remained little altered.”