Sir Henry Cecil and Lord Lucan's driver used to love it - but now a great racing pub is no more

A notable landmark will be missing for racegoers travelling into Newmarket from the south for next month’s Craven meeting as the once thriving racing pub known as The Green Man at Six Mile Bottom has recently been demolished to make way for housing.

A former stage coaching inn on the road from London to Norwich, The Green Man was popular with racegoers, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when there were so many coaches calling in on racedays that operators had to book in advance. It was also frequented all year round by jockeys who lived nearby, such as George Duffield, Philip Robinson, Nigel Day, Ray Cochrane and Alan Bond.

Bond, once stable jockey to Sir Henry Cecil, who used to drop in himself, said: “We used to love The Green Man, mainly for the landlord Alex East, who was a former chief of police so was used to dealing with rogues.