The Old White Horse Cellar (also known as Hatchetts White Horse Cellar) at No. 155 Piccadilly was one of the best-known coaching inns in England during the 18th and 19th centuries.^[1] The first mention of the White Horse Cellar is in 1720.^[2] It was originally located on the corner of Arlington Street, where the Ritz Hotel is now located.^[3] The first landlord, a man named Williams, named it in honor of the newly established House of Hanover, whose heraldic emblem featured a white horse. The White Horse rose to prominence under Abraham Hatchett^[4] who later moved it to the opposite side of the road on the corner of Albemarle Street,^[3] where it was known as "Hatchett’s Hotel and White Horse Cellar".^[4] The precise date of the move is not known, but was precipitated by the construction of the Bath Hotel,^[5] which was located on the corner of Piccadilly and Arlington as early as 1798.^[6] It was torn down in 1884 to make room for the Albemarle.^[3]

In its heyday, the White Horse Cellar was the starting terminus for all western-bound mail coaches from London.^[7] Mail bound for Bath and Bristol left the White Horse each night.^[8] It had a "travellers' room", a sort of waiting room for travellers to rest and wait for another coach. The room had a fireplace, partitioned sleeping cubbyholes, a clock, a mirror and a waiter who would serve food from the kitchen.^[3] But the real draw was the cellar, where people gathered to gossip, discuss the news and share a drink.^[4]

Hatchett apparently moved out before the building was demolished, as in 1848 "Hatchett's Hotel and New White Horse Cellar" was operating at 67 & 68 Piccadilly.^[9] Mention was made by Edward Mogg in 1838 that both the Old White Horse Cellar and the New White Horse Cellar remained standing nearly opposite each other on Piccadilly.^[10] In the 1920s Hatchett published a history of the establishment, Old Coaching Days and the White Horse Cellar Piccadilly established A D 1720.^[11]