The pub is reputed to have started life as a chapel when it was built in the 1860s. However, it is possible that this view has been influenced by the unusual shape of the entrance doors at the front. It was certainly never consecrated, and was soon a hostelry serving the newly built railway. At first, it was called the Half Moon – landlord Job Allen transferring the licence from his already existing pub in the village (that building survives to this day as Lime Tree Villas further along Station Road) – but it soon became the Station Hotel.
On 3rd November 1939, soon after the start of the Second World War, the pub was taken on by Mr Fred Pullinger. However, he quickly realised that it wasn’t making any money. He was on the point of giving up the tenancy when, out of the blue, an army officer turned up in a staff car and told him that three and a half thousand Canadian troops were about to be billeted at nearby Sutton Hall and they would need somewhere to drink! Army Officers were also living in the White House opposite. This secured the immediate future of the business. The new customers were not entirely well-behaved however – one night Fred had cause to eject a group of them. In their drunken state, they then returned with high explosive and blew up the porch! The following day Fred calmly went to see the Commanding Officer, who immediately arranged for the same troops to rebuild the porch.