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The Sixteen String Jack was situated on Coppice Row. This pub was named after the infamous 18th century highwayman Jack Rann. It was previously known as The Wheatsheaf. Planning permission to demolish and replace with new housing has been applied for.

Source: Phil Gaskin

Local newspaper review by John Cutting, 1966

"A hirsute appendage with graspable extremities in the handlebar tradition." In those terms are expressed the qualification for membership of the exclusive Handlebar Club. There can be no doubt that Jack Hazell, landlord of the Wheatsheaf, is more than adequately endowed and is thereby a worthy member of the club. To raise funds for charity the Handlebar Club runs beer drinking, spaghetti eating and other competitions, some of them even more bizarre. A contest with Twickenham Rugby Club, during which each member of both teams had to drink a "yard of beer," turned out to be an extremely moist occasion. Anyone who has succeeded in "downing a yard" will agree that it puts one off beer—at least for half an hour! During one ladies' night at the Café Royal Jack found himself unwittingly the victim of a Candid Camera stunt on television. Accepting an invitation to embrace a very attractive and scantily dressed young female who was described as an Italian film star, he suddenly found his moustache painfully twisted—a most unladylike gesture! The Wheatsheaf is a local in the true sense of the word and is proud of the distinction. Entry to the car park from Coppice-row is far from easy and this is probably the reason why few tourists visiting the Forest find their way into this delightful inn. The interior may, at present, be dingy, but the brewers have ambitious plans to spend £10,000 on the building to make it worthy of the landlord who, during the past eight years has, by his personality, attracted an enthusiastic crowd of regulars. The Wheatsheaf has one great claim to fame which could well be unique; it runs its own golfing society. With a membership of 50, the society meets seven or more times each summer on different courses to compete for an imposing number of trophies. These include a handsome silver cup donated by the brewers. Members of the society wear a tie bearing a wheatsheaf motif together with the figure of a golf ball on a tee. (It is the landlord's wish that the name of the pub should be changed to the "Nineteenth Hole.") Other customers who do not qualify for the golfing tie have designed one of their own. The intention is the same—to proudly show that they are members of the happy community of Wheatsheaf regulars. The activities of the Wheatsheaf are by no means confined to golf. Last November a car rally was organised which attracted 30 entries. Although more than half failed to complete the difficult course, the event was voted to be a great success. Recently the local toxophilites challenged the darts players to a competition and soundly beat them. The sight of the archers' skipper scoring 180 with his first arrows shattered the darts players in the same way as the French were demoralised by the English archers at Agincourt. The Wheatsheaf has no claims to antiquity but, hanging in the public bar, is a document of historical interest. It is a facsimile reproduction of the licence granted to Elias William Maynard when, in 1881, he took over from Harry H. Bottomley the "Wheatsheaf Alehouse and Premises." The fine and fees are presented in detail and total expenses amounted to £24 6s. 2d. These included such items as 10s. for the Homage Clerk and Crier, 6s. 8d. for Proclamation, and an item with a delightfully feudalistic flavour, viz. Quit Rent at 4d. a year for five years. The said Mr. Bottomley apparently received only £24 and it is to be hoped that the shillings and pence were suitably liquidated to celebrate the occasion. Not least of the attractions of the Wheatsheaf is the aviary in the saloon where, under a thatched canopy, a wonderful assortment of African and Australian finches beguile the customers with madrigals. Jack Hazell, when he was a policeman tramping the lanes in Hertfordshire, might well have dreamed of becoming a landlord, but I am sure that he could never have anticipated the success he has achieved at the wonderful Wheatsheaf.

Brewers: McMullen & Sons Ltd.

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Name	Dates	Comments
Keith Reynolds	1974/1976	As a lad of 14 I worked at the pub on weekends for Jack and Shirley Hazel cleaning beer pipes, bottling up and walking their two dogs Ches and Sherry in Epping Forest. Also occasionally washed Jack's car. Jack offered me the job after I had been their paperboy for a couple of years!
Jim Dawkins	1974	I am looking for a customer who used this pub as he lived close by it. his name was Bernard Jackson and i wondered if he was still living there