Lordship Road 2017

Lordship Road is still there, and so too is the Red Lion pub, rebuilt when Church Street was widened in 1924, and with not a hint of its venerable history on display. Outside however, in the small beer garden, a pair of large closed off gates hint at an entrance that could have been used long ago by horses and overseen by a certain Mr Webster, who was to inherit the livery stable business of Maria West after her death in 1846. A Red Lion pub has been on this site since since 1697, and by 1839 was reportedly a meeting place for 'respectable tradesmen'. Somewhere very close by were the homes of the Wombwells and the elephant house that Zachariah Wombwell was to convert into his living room.