The Old Station Inn Maidenhead.net - History - The Old Station Inn

The Old Station Inn, on the A4 heading towards Slough, closed in February 1997. It was owned by Lex Ford (car dealers) who wanted to turn the building into offices but their plans were rejected by the District Council. In 2000 the windows were boarded up and the car park was being used by the car dealers, who have a garage opposite. A year or so later the pub was demolished and a car dealership office now stands on the site.

This pub was involved in the famous James Hanratty A6 murder case. Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie were having an affair and visited the pub on 22 August 1961 before driving to a field in nearby Dorney Reach. They were approached by a gunman and were told to drive through Slough, eventually going north on the A6 in Bedfordshire. He forced them to pull over to a lay-by where the gunman shot Michael Gregsten dead. He then raped Valerie Storie and shot her several times and left her for dead. She was paralysed but survived to identify James Hanratty as the killer.

James Hanratty was tried and found guilty. He was hanged for the murder on 4 April 1962; one of the last people to be hanged in the UK. For many years James' family tried to get his name cleared. In March 2001 his body was exhumed and DNA tests were carried out on the body and some of the crime scene evidence - Valerie Storie's clothing. There was a match, proving his guilt. Valerie Storie, wheelchair bound since that fateful day, still lives in the area.

The Old Station Inn is next to the site of Riverside Station - the first of Maidenhead's train stations (built before the railway bridge over the river was completed) and demolished in 1871.

Photograph taken July 1997

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This page last updated 3 May 2002