Our understanding is that the original location of this hamlet was around Smallford Farm at the lower end of Colney Heath Lane. The farm homestead lies back from the north-east side of the road, and today is close to the A414 St Albans Bypass (North Orbital). The Ordnance Survey, First Edition Map of 1834 shows several dwellings on the south-west side of Colney Heath Lane, opposite the farm, and on both sides of Barley Mow Lane. This is where Smallford is named. Today the name would appear further north-east where the turnpike Toll Gate is marked. Until the first half of the 19th century, therefore, Smallford would have been a typical rural hamlet arranged around its farm. While we know of no ale house in the hamlet itself, there was one a short distance along Barley Mow Lane, where the road divided towards Tyttenhanger and towards London Colney (now blocked by the bypass). More recent generations knew it as the Barley Mow, but to earlier residents it was Sion House in Sion Lane.
You can see a full size version of the map here: 1766 Dury & Andrews Map