The White Horse Inn and brewery enjoyed a long period of stability with just two owners in nearly one hundred years. John Clark was landlord for over fifty years until his death in March 1868 whilst his predecessor, Richard Dupont, had kept the White Horse for forty-five years. Both men were freemen of Sudbury and able to vote in parliamentary elections. John Clark became a freeman of Sudbury on May 20th, 1819 and was described as a ‘victualler’,(a person who was licenced to sell alcohol), in the Freemen’s Cocket Book, (containing records of admission), although, Richard Dupont tried out several different careers as a cabinet maker, when he was admitted to the Freedom of Sudbury on March 2nd, 1786 and, in 1811, as the proprietor of a stationer’s shop.
It was an impressive property as the sales advertisements from 1868 make clear. There were extensive dry wine and beer cellars, with storage for 260 hogsheads, (very large casks). The ground floor had a substantial entrance passage, three parlours, bar, taproom, store-room, larder, kitchen, scullery, and bottle room with loft above. The first floor had a sitting room, six bedrooms, and a store room. There was also a large attic. At the back of the White Horse was a small garden, paved yard, brew-house, cask shed, coal house, and four well-built stables capable of accommodating fifty horses, with granary and lofts above, a shut-up carriage house, open slated shed, spacious paved stable yard, to which there was an entrance by close boarded folding gates from East Street. The property also had a never- failing pump of good water, and a soft-water tank. The Land-tax was £1 10s 6d.