The Coaching Era

c. 1750

Havant sat on the main coaching road between London and Portsmouth, and the town benefited from the passing trade that this brought. Coaching inns, including the Bear Hotel, provided refreshment and stabling for travellers and their horses. The turnpike road, now broadly the route of the A27 and A3, connected Havant to the wider road network. The coaching trade brought revenue to the town's inns, farriers, saddlers and other businesses. The Bear Hotel, which still stands near the central crossroads, dates from this era and is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the town centre. The coaching era cemented Havant's role as a stopping point on a nationally important route.