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Picture source: Hania Franek

The Audrey Arms was situated at 85 High Street.  Originally the Brewery Tap for Sedgwick’s Colne Brewery. (Often misquoted as the Audley Arms).

The building was rented in the 1880s as a weekend retreat by the actress Ellen Terry, but on condition it continued to be operated as a public house. But they had few customers because the beer was kept badly. The building was dismantled just prior to the Second World War, the intention being to erect it elsewhere, but when the war was over, much of the material had disappeared.

Uxbridge, Hillingdon & Cowley by K R Pearce

The future of Ellen Terry’s cottage in Uxbridge High Street was under consideration 40 years ago in view of its history and that it was the only remaining 15th century cottage in the town. Originally the site was occupied by two cottages. When Mr John Mercer rebuilt the Colne Brewery at the rear he converted one of them into the brewery ‘tap’ or off-licence. Catching sight of the cottage as she was passing through Uxbridge, Ellen Terry, the then famous actress, was attracted by its quaintness. She stopped her carriage and went to Frays House where Mr Mercer lived, and rented the cottage. It is recorded that while resident there she opened a church bazaar in jubilee year, 1887. Incidentally, Miss Terry named the cottage off-licence The Audrey Arms after Miss Audrey Campbell, a school friend of Miss Terry’s daughter. Later it was occupied by Miss Terry’s son, Mr Gordon Craig. The Royal Commission on Historic Monuments recommended that the cottage be preserved, but during the war it was demolished with a view to it being re-erected in the Fassnidge Memorial Ground, but when the time was opportune, it was found that its timbers had been destroyed.

March of Time section of the Middlesex Gazette, 2 December, 1966

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